TY - JOUR
T1 - Acceptance of climate change and climate refugee policy in Australia and New Zealand: The case against political polarisation.
AU - Stanley, Samantha
AU - Ng Tseung-Wong, Caroline
AU - Leviston, Zoe
AU - Walker, Iain
N1 - Funding Information:
Data collection for the Australian sample was supported with funds from the Australian National University Research School of Psychology awarded to Iain Walker. The funder had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the article for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2021/12/10
Y1 - 2021/12/10
N2 - Despite the seriousness of climate change, political polarisation and right-wing denial of climate change is frequently blamed for stalling effective climate policy. One concerning consequence of climate change is the displacement of people. We identify demographic correlates of acceptance of climate change and support for climate refugee policy within two nations likely to become early recipients of climate-driven migrants: Australia (N = 5110) and New Zealand (N = 5039). Political orientation is the strongest demographic correlate of climate change denial and climate refugee policy support, but deeper analysis shows that while support is highest amongst left-wing partisans, almost all voting groups on average accept climate change and climate migration policy. We argue that the current high levels of support indicate potential for cross-partisan policy solutions in Australia and New Zealand, though we also caution about ways polarisation may deepen as we approach a climate refugee crisis.
AB - Despite the seriousness of climate change, political polarisation and right-wing denial of climate change is frequently blamed for stalling effective climate policy. One concerning consequence of climate change is the displacement of people. We identify demographic correlates of acceptance of climate change and support for climate refugee policy within two nations likely to become early recipients of climate-driven migrants: Australia (N = 5110) and New Zealand (N = 5039). Political orientation is the strongest demographic correlate of climate change denial and climate refugee policy support, but deeper analysis shows that while support is highest amongst left-wing partisans, almost all voting groups on average accept climate change and climate migration policy. We argue that the current high levels of support indicate potential for cross-partisan policy solutions in Australia and New Zealand, though we also caution about ways polarisation may deepen as we approach a climate refugee crisis.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121051227&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10584-021-03278-8
DO - 10.1007/s10584-021-03278-8
M3 - Article
SN - 1573-1480
VL - 169
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change
JF - Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change
IS - 3-4
M1 - 26
ER -
