Voters want a just transition and more, not less green investment ahead of the European elections, the Policy Fellow writes in an op-ed for "Social Europe".
Five years after people across Europe protested for ambitious climate policies, which paved the way for the European Green Deal, the wind seems to have turned: Farmers voice their frustration about environmental regulations and far-right populists call for a reversal of green initiatives. The narrative of climate fatigue seems to have gained traction.
In a survey of 15,000 citizens in Germany, France and Poland, Policy Fellow Jannik Jansen, Deputy Director Nils Redeker and their colleagues Tarik Abou-Chadi from Oxford University and Markus Kollberg from Humboldt University put this narrative to the test - and concluded that, amid a heightened cost of living, a challenging economic context and Russia's war in Ukraine, continued climate action remains salient to a broad range of voters.
"Climate scepticism does not appear to be a prevalent phenomenon within the political mainstream. Therefore, democratic parties should not rush into a ‘race to the bottom’ in scaling back their climate ambitions", Jannik Jansen writes in an op-ed titled "Beyond the 'backlash': the green electoral agenda" in Social Europe, published on 9 April 2024.
The full article can be read here.