Acceptance of climate-oriented policy measures in times of the COVID-19 crisis

Based on data from a representative survey among citizens in Germany during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, this paper empirically examines the acceptance of climate-oriented economic stimulus programs and several further climate policy measures. Our descriptive analysis shows no general lower acceptance of climate policy measures compared to the time before the crisis. However, the econometric analysis reveals that individuals with higher negative emotions towards the crisis are significantly less supportive of at least some climate-oriented policy measures. Economic concerns are of particular relevance. For example, a perceived deterioration of the general economic situation due to the COVID-19 crisis has a significantly negative effect on the acceptance of climate-oriented economic stimulus programs. Concerns about the own personal economic and financial situation due to the crisis are significantly negatively correlated with the support of climate-oriented policy measures that directly lead to higher costs in daily life. Besides the relevance of this perceived self-interest, our estimation results also highlight the relevance of social aspects since individuals with a social policy identification are significantly more likely to agree with climate-oriented policy measures that are also financially beneficial for socially de-prived groups, but significantly less likely to support measures that are financially unfa-vorable for them. We discuss several climate policy implications. For example, our estima-tion results suggest that successful climate policy should, especially in times of the COVID-19 crisis, also be socially oriented and consider distribution effects, for example, through financial compensations for costly measures like taxes.