Mohammadzadeh Valencia, F., Mohren, C., Ramakrishnan, A., Merchert, M., Minx, J., Steckel, J.

Public support for carbon pricing policies and revenue recycling options: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the survey literature

in npj Climate Action, 09.09.2024

Peer Review , Applied Sustainability Sciences , Climate and Development

Since public support is critical for implementing carbon pricing policies, we conduct a systematicreview and meta-analysis to examine the survey-based literature on change in public support for directand indirect carbon pricing policies with and without revenue recycling options. Following acomprehensive and transparent machine-learning assisted screening of the literature, our datasetcomprises 35 studies containing 70 surveys across 26 countries with over 100,000 respondents. Wefind that the introduction of any type of revenue recycling option increases public support for carbonpricing. Results from our meta-regression indicate that green spending (i.e. using revenues for climate-friendly projects) is the only revenue recycling option associated with a statistically significant increasein public support. Our findings moreover suggest that the effects may depend on which region thesurvey was carried out, highlighting the need for additional research in countries in the regions of Africaand Latin America and the Caribbean.