Meta-analyses of fifteen determinants of public opinion about climate change taxes and laws

Abstract Public acceptance is a precondition for implementing climate change mitigation policies. What, then, determines acceptance of these policies? Based on 76 datasets from 34 countries, generating a total sample of 146,817 participants, we report a series of meta-analyses assessing the importance of 15 determinants for accepting climate change mitigation policies. Results show the following: (a) Among policy-specific beliefs, perceived fairness is the most important factor. (b) Among climate change beliefs, knowledge about climate change is weakly related to acceptance. Climate change beliefs, environmental concern, and perceived risk of and problems associated with climate change are all related to acceptance. (c) Among psychological factors, trust is most important. (d) Finally, demographic variables show weak or no relationship with acceptance. These results inform climate policy researchers as to which determinants of acceptance to include in future analyses and provide advice to policymakers about which sentiments they should consider when introducing and communicating intended climate policies.