The centre-periphery divide and attitudes towards climate change measures among Western Europeans

Christoph Arndt*, Daphne Halikiopoulou, Christos Vrakopoulos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article focuses on the spatial dimension of environmental protectionism. Merging regional level and European Social Survey (ESS) data, we examine attitudes towards climate change policies in 186 Western European regions comparatively. Findings from multilevel models confirm that climate policies, which concentrate costs spatially, generate resistance from individuals who incur the costs of these policies. Specifically, individuals in rural and suburban areas who fear income losses and reduced purchasing power are less supportive of climate change policies. Living in poorer regions also drives resistance to such policies. Further, the regional context conditions the effects of egalitarian attitudes. People supporting redistribution oppose climate change measures if they live in poor regions with high unemployment. Overall, we provide empirical evidence of a centre-periphery cleavage dividing Western European attitudes on environment protectionism.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)381-406
Number of pages26
JournalEnvironmental Politics
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 26 May 2022

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© 2022 The Author(s)

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