A study published in Nature Sustainability suggests that climate policies focused on forcing lifestyle changes may weaken public support for environmental action.
Researchers found that mandates such as urban car bans can erode people’s underlying environmental values, even among those already inclined to live sustainably.
“Policies don’t just spur a target behaviour. We find that they can change people’s underlying values: leading to unintended negative effects, but also possibly cultivating green values,” says SFI Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow Katrin Schmelz, lead author of the study.
Schmelz and SFI Professor Sam Bowles surveyed more than 3,000 Germans representative of national demographics, comparing reactions to climate mandates with COVID-19 restrictions. The results showed that climate mandates triggered a 52% stronger negative response than pandemic-related controls.
“These crowding-out effects are big enough that policymakers should worry,” Bowles says.
The researchers found less resistance when policies were viewed as effective, non-intrusive, and respectful of personal freedom. Bowles noted, “The science and technology to provide a low-carbon way of life is nearly solved. What’s lagging behind is a social–behavioural science of effective and politically viable climate policies.”
Limits on short-haul flights faced less opposition in Germany, which Schmelz attributes to viable rail alternatives.