The feasibility of ambitious climate policies in Europe crucially depends on acceptance among citizens and on the attitudes and actions of politicians. This talk presents an overview of these key factors by combining evidence from a machine-learning assisted systematic review of climate policy acceptance, surveys of climate policy preferences across 13 EU countries (n = 19,328), and a survey of European legislators. We show that public support depends primarily on three beliefs: that climate change is serious and human-caused, that proposed policies will be effective, and that their costs and benefits will be fairly distributed. These beliefs are not fixed attributes of citizens; they are shaped by policy design, communication and governance. Our survey of European citizens highlights that besides strong climate policy supporters and opposers, there is a crucial faction of moderates whose policy support hinges upon specific policy instruments and the perceived cost–benefit balances rather than on fixed ideology. This group can be pivotal to reach majority support for essential climate policies. Comparing citizens with legislators, we show that European legislators on average report higher support for climate policies, and that the accuracy of their perceptions of public opinion significantly varies across policies and parliamentary groups. Together, these pieces of evidence shed light on challenges and enablers of ambitious climate policies in the European setting.
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