Descripción del proyecto
Climate change has revived the debate on growth-vs-environment which may intensify in coming years. This project studies to what extent concerns about economic growth, ranging from pro- to anti-growth, hamper social-political support for ambitious climate policy, and how this can be amended. Using surveys, experiments and interviews, it assesses whether beliefs about growth-vs-environment affect policy opinions of distinct stakeholders (voters, policymakers, journalists, etc.), and if this is moderated by preferences regarding instrument types, such as standards, taxes or subsidies. The project further tests the role of information by comparing the effect of distinct beyond-GDP metrics on views about growth vs climate policy. In addition, it studies how growth concerns relate to the design of pledges in the Paris Agreement, as these demarcate national climate policies.
Based on collected data and derived insights, the project then undertakes system-dynamics and agent-based modelling to study the co-dynamics of climate-policy design and support. This will create models of the dynamic policy-support cycle (DPSC), comprising policy design, economic and emission impacts, opinion dynamics (i.e. support/resistance), and policy adaptation. It involves comparing growth strategies and climate policies using distinct beyond-GDP metrics, and connecting this to stakeholder opinion dynamics.
Informed by the model results, in a third part the project explores whether an agrowth strategy, which is precautious towards both economic and climate risks, can increase support for ambitious climate policy. Given stakeholder diversity, we perform interviews to decide about tailored strategies in this respect. Similar proposals to agrowth, notably under the label of post-growth, will be examined as well. The ultimate aim is to learn about dynamic packages with climate-policy instruments and a/post-growth measures that culminate in majority support for ambitious climate policy.