Did the pandemic undermine climate concern in Europe? A re-assessment of the Finite Pool of Worry

This study investigates whether the pandemic has diminished public concern about climate change, particularly among people living in Europe. It tests the Finite Pool of Worry (FPW) hypothesis, which posits that, given individuals’ limited emotional resources, increasing worry about COVID-19 decreases concern for climate change. Contrary to the FPW hypothesis, our findings indicate that, for Europeans as a whole, concern for climate change actually increased during the pandemic. This was confirmed through conditional mixed process instrumental variable analysis. Our research contributes to existing literature in two significant ways. First, while the FPW hypothesis is supported in former Communist states, it does not hold for other Western European countries. Second, our analysis reveals that climate change concerns remained unchanged among individuals who are unvaccinated, as well as those who exhibit COVID-19 skepticism and skepticism about the attribution of climate change.