Christopher Bell
- BSc (Royal Roads University, 2021)
Topic
Exploring the role of emissions-economy trade-offs in climate policy support: Comparative survey evidence from the United Kingdom and Australia
School of Public Administration
Date & location
- Wednesday, June 19, 2024
- 9:00 A.M.
- Clearihue Building, Room B021
Examining Committee
Supervisory Committee
- Dr. Katya Rhodes, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
- Dr. Tamara Krawchenko, School of Public Administration, UVic (Member)
External Examiner
- Dr. Colette Salemi, Department of Economics, UVic
Chair of Oral Examination
- Dr. Stephen Ross, Department of English, UVic
Abstract
Countries vary in their success in decoupling greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth to meet emissions reduction targets. Using a web-based survey of citizens in the United Kingdom (n = 1,009) and Australia (n = 1,029), with different decoupling rates, this study assesses levels of citizen support for different types of climate policies, beliefs in trade-offs between emissions reduction and economic growth, and associations between these emissions-economy trade-off beliefs and support for climate policies. The results show compulsory policies, including carbon taxes and bans, receive the highest opposition. There is little variation between the studied countries for climate policy support and emissions-economy trade-off beliefs. The results also show that citizens who are agnostic about economic growth support policies the most. Therefore, decision-makers should focus on communicating climate policies’ economic and social benefits for the economic growth-concerned citizens to increase overall policy support.