Warming climate apathy to mitigate the disparity in climate policy support across distinct income strata

Jianchi Tian, Yang Li, Yan Sun, Bo Yang and Xuefeng Chen

Energy Policy, 2024, vol. 192, issue C

Abstract: Worldwide, nations strive to curtail carbon emissions, but income disparities create challenges in climate policy support. While the Chinese government has employed economic incentives to mitigate the financial burden of green energy transition, these measures may not fully address the underlying issue of climate apathy, wherein individuals prioritize immediate interests over long-term climate concerns. Using a three-year online tracking sample of Chinese adults (n = 4,699), this study investigates the enduring predictive role of income poverty on climate policy support (e.g., green energy transition), alongside the explanatory power of climate apathy and economic burden for this effect. The research reveals that income poverty results in lower climate policy support, with climate apathy explaining 38.29% of this effect, while economic burden accounts for only 8%. Moreover, compared to economic burden, climate apathy has a stronger impact on policy support in regions with different levels of economic development. These findings underscore the potential of addressing climate apathy as a non-economic approach to enhance support for climate policies among low-income groups, offering a cost-effective and stable strategy to bridge the policy support gap caused by income disparity and regional economic imbalances.

Keywords: Climate policy support; Climate apathy; Climate dilemma; Income inequality; Regional economic inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:192:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524002659

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114245

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