Opinions of EU citizens about climate policy in their own words

To mitigate climate change, policy measures should not only be effective but also politically viable. Views of citizens are vital in this regard as they underlie voting outcomes and subsequent political decisions. The present study presents results from a public survey conducted in 13 EU countries about public support for climate policy measures. This involves analyzing 1266 open textual responses and identifying thirteen main topics. We compare the prevalence of topics between EU countries and assess how topics relate to average support for climate policy and opinions on economic growth. More prevalent topics relate to sector-specific strategies, such as aimed at waste and transport, which are relatively popular among female respondents. Only about 25% of responses mention concrete policy instruments, such as direct regulation or carbon pricing. This may indicate inadequate awareness of policy details among European citizens and contribute to limited public support for climate policy in general. Surprisingly, people claiming to have a good understanding of climate policy suggest a vague strategy like reducing consumption instead of concrete policy measures. Opponents of climate policy are found especially in Eastern European countries. Our findings point at the need for more information provision to citizens about policy details and effectiveness.