Structural Determinants of Climate Policy Acceptance in a Global Context

The global climate crisis necessitates transformative policies to address ecological and social challenges. Without public policy acceptance (PPA), policies are generally not adopted. Research on PPA in this context has predominantly focused on individual-level predictors and single-country studies in privileged Euro-American contexts, while leaving the influence of broader socioeconomic structures globally underexplored. The present study adopts a multilevel perspective to investigate how critical structural macro-level variables—such as economic freedom, income inequality, per capita carbon emissions, climate hazards & exposure, trust in government, and democratic governance—shape public support for climate policies. Drawing on a dataset from the International Climate Psychology Collaboration (which included nearly 60,000 individuals across 63 countries), we demonstrate that structural factors significantly influence PPA. Our findings indicate that economic freedom and countries’ per capita emissions negatively predict PPA, thus we argue that neoliberal economic structures and reliance on fossil fuels foster vested interests undermining support for climate action. Conversely, higher levels of income inequality and climate vulnerability are associated with greater PPA, potentially reflecting heightened awareness of environmental risks. Contrary to expectations, trust in government does not exhibit a consistent relationship with PPA. This study underscores the necessity of critically interrogating power relations within socioeconomic structures that sustain resistance to climate policies. This work contributes to a more nuanced understanding of environmental PPA in a diverse global context, advancing pathways for transformative societal change.