The Politics of Intersecting Crises: The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Climate Policy Preferences

Abstract

Few contemporary crises have reshaped public policy as dramatically as the COVID-19 pandemic. In its shadow, policymakers have debated whether other pressing crises—including climate change—should be integrated into COVID-19 policy responses. Public support for such an approach is unclear: the COVID-19 crisis might eclipse public concern for other policy problems, or complementarities between COVID-19 and other issues could boost support for broad government interventions. In this research note, we use a conjoint experiment, panel study, and framing experiment to assess the substitutability or complementarity of COVID-19 and climate change among US and Canadian publics. We find no evidence that the COVID-19 crisis crowds out public concern about the climate crisis. Instead, we find that the publics in both countries prefer that their governments integrate climate action into COVID-19 responses. We also find evidence that analogizing climate change with COVID-19 may increase concern about climate change.

How Does an Economic Shock Affect Environmental Attitudes, Preferences and Issue Importance? Evidence from Switzerland

“…This indicates that the room to maneuver with respect to pro-environmental policy that governments possess does not shrink from the perspective of the public. This supports findings from a recent contribution of Bergquist et al (2022) that citizens do not necessarily see a trade-off between economy and environment, even in times of crisis -and that politicians can therefore develop policy solutions that address economic and environmental challenges at the same time.…”