How Do Europeans Think We Should Stop Climate Change? Costs, Political Trust, and Attitudes towards Key Policies

Surveys show that most Europeans, like people elsewhere around the world, are concerned about climate change and want their governments to address it. But how? What policy actions are more or less popular, and among which kinds of people? We know little about public attitudes towards many environmental policies that are likely to prove vital but also controversial in the years to come. These include carbon tariffs; support for workers leaving polluting industries; the phase-out of fossil fuel-powered cars; the protection of nature areas; and the construction of new nuclear power plants. This talk will present the results of recent surveys in several (mostly European) countries, capturing people's views of these and other policies, and exploring some reasons behind those views. In particular, I will review research showing how people's support for many climate and environmental policies reflects their trust in their country's political and administrative leaders and systems.

Talk by Malcolm Fairbrother
Moderation: Chloe Brimicombe

Malcolm Fairbrother is a professor of sociology at Umeå University, Sweden, and the University of Graz, Austria. He is also a researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, he received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley (USA), worked in England for ten years, and has also been a visiting researcher at institutions in Mexico, Spain, and Italy. His research is about the politics of environmental protection, economic globalization, social and political trust, and social science research methods.