Public support for sustainable development and environmental policy: A case of the Czech Republic

Abstract

While the scientific community presents a relatively uniform conclusion on the ongoing global warming and the policies that are essential for sustainable development and the mitigation of the negative effects of climate change, the public opinion on the topic is far from uniform. This article studies the factors related to public awareness of climate change and environmental policy, public ideas on the supposed effects of climate change, the belief on whether climate change is caused by human activities, and the perceived possibilities to alleviate climate change by humans. We employ a set of ordinal multinomial regression analyses with spline corrections for ordinal predictors on a representative sample of 1021 respondents (aged 15–86 years, M ± SD: 47.15 ± 17.46; 19.4% with higher education, 50.60% women) from the Czech Republic. Our results suggest that life satisfaction, belief in God, interest in climate‐related issues, and the attitude to the European Union were the most relevant factors. Older people were less interested in climate, less aware of sustainable development and climate change, and less willing to take action. Women were more concerned with climate change compared to men. The effect of traditional mass media, Internet‐based social networks, and discussion forums, and personal discussions outside of the internet were less significant than expected. The article provides policy suggestions for enhanced stakeholder engagement as well as suggestions for further research on the topic.

Support for the environment post‐transition? Material concerns and policy tradeoffs

“…At the same time, this is in line with recent calls for combining environmental problem solutions with other, often overlapping, socio‐economic issues. Paying attention to cultural particularities of contexts, undertaking behavioral change campaigns, and tailoring messages by actor type and political convictions appears to matter for environmental policy support (Fesenfeld et al, 2021; Huber, Fesenfeld, & Bernauer, 2020; Huber, Wicki, & Bernauer, 2020; Nowlin, 2022), as does pairing environmental policy arguments with a range of arguments such as health outcomes, energy policy, and sustainable development (Čábelková et al, 2022; Creutzig et al, 2020; Jett & Raymond, 2021; Wise, 2021). This could be done through construction of “social mandates” (e.g., Howarth et al, 2020), whereby large social programs with a combination of economic, social, and environmental policies could increase support for climate action (e.g., Bergquist et al, 2020; Huber, Wicki, & Bernauer, 2020).…”

“…But even within post‐Communist EU member states with newfound relative affluence, or developing nations elsewhere, there is likely to be variation in support for environmental action at the individual level. Though there is considerable research on how perceptions of the state of overall economy shape attitudes toward environmental policy action (Čábelková et al, 2022; Diekmann & Franzen, 1999; Duijndam & van Beukering, 2021; Kenny, 2018; Mayer & Smith, 2017), there is less research into how personal economic circumstances relate to environmental policy attitudes. Specifically, this concerns the attitudes toward environmental spending or willingness to incur additional costs of climate action (but see [Franzen & Vogl, 2013; Mayer & Smith, 2017]).…”

“…There is evidence that the populist wave spreading across the European region has consequences for the environment, as electoral success by populist parties seems to be positively associated with increased GHG emissions among EU member states (Jahn, 2021). Recent evidence has shown that the politics of populism and climate attitudes are related, with orientations toward national governments and supranational organizations being particularly important (Čábelková et al, 2022; Huber et al, 2021; Huber, Fesenfeld, & Bernauer, 2020; Kivell et al, 2018).…”

Renewable energy technologies in households: Challenges and low carbon energy transition justice

“…According to behavioural economics, people show systematic and anticipated patterns of behaviour and decision-making that are not in line with rational choice theory presumptions. Therefore, policy-makers should analyse human behaviour in a more detailed way in order to develop well-targeted policies (Kahneman, 2003;Rieskamp, Hoffrage, 2008;Čábelková et al, 2022). It is important to stress that policy-makers can supplement conventional energy poverty mitigation policies with behavioural measures to improve vulnerable households' cognitive capacity (DellaValle, Sareen, 2020).…”

Untitled

“…The concept of sustainable development is traditionally associated with the environmental issues and concerns. However, the social and economic dimensions also constitute essential parts of the sustainable development, especially with regard to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Agbedahin, 2019;Lu et al, 2019;Chebotareva et al, 2020;Čábelková et al, 2022). Taking this into the account, the emphasis is placed on the corporate responsibility (Bihari and Pradhan, 2011;Décamps et al, 2017;Hohnen and Potts, 2007).…”