How to win public support for financial climate policies: both climate anxiety and economic anticipation work

Abstract

ABSTRACTConsidering the dual objectives of financial climate policies (such as carbon tax) -mitigating climate change and supporting economic growth, our paper aims to discover the unique process of increasing support for financial climate policies, which was a lack of attention before. Building on the structural equation modelling analysis of a nationwide longitudinal survey including 2322 valid samples in China, this research finds the positive influence of climate anxiety and economic anticipation on the support for financial climate policies, driven by the enhancement of perceived win-win benefits of policies. The findings provide researchers with a new perspective in understanding public support for financial climate policies and the psychological process underneath. Policy-makers could benefit from the findings by strategically managing the climate anxiety and economic anticipation of the public and raising public awareness of personal benefits beyond climate benefits when implementing financial climate policies.KEYWORDS: Climate changefinancial climate policiesclimate anxietyeconomic anticipationperceived benefit Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71902005].Notes on contributorsYang LiYang Li is an associate professor of Marketing at Beijing Technology and Business University.Yuxuan LiangYuxuan Liang is a postgraduate student at Beijing Technology and Business University.Jianchi TianJianchi Tian is a postgraduate student at Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.Yan SunYan Sun is the professor of Psychology at Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.Meijun MengMeijun Meng is a postgraduate student at Beijing Technology and Business University.