Tailored information and the public support for carbon pricing in Germany

Providing information about carbon pricing is widely considered to be key to increasing public support for it. A number of studies have analyzed such effects, but little attention has been paid to how changes to the design can enhance the effectiveness of information treatments. Typically, generic information with low affective appeal has been used. In contrast, this paper, drawing on recent research into the design of information provisions, employs a targeted and tailored approach to ensure high receptiveness. Utilizing novel German survey data, we examine whether video-based information tailored to individuals’ carbon pricing concerns outperforms generic information. Our results confirm that targeted and tailored information significantly increases support, primarily for respondents concerned about costs. However, the effect of tailored information concerning fairness and effectiveness is statistically not different from that of the generic control video. Nevertheless, it reduces strong opposition, providing valuable insights for policy acceptance. These findings suggest that integrating targeted communication strategies into climate policy design may help build broader policy tolerance and stability, though further research is needed to confirm their effectiveness beyond the specific context of this study. • Tailored information increases carbon price acceptance more than general content. • The effectiveness of tailored communication depends on the concerns targeted. • Poorly designed tailored messaging can perform worse than generic information. • Personalized information enhances tolerance across diverse audience segments. • Machine learning techniques unveil heterogeneity in conditional treatment effects.