Want to Pay for Climate Policy Right Now? Look to Cities

Over the last year, the Federal government has waged a war on climate policy: from repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, to paying companies to kill offshore wind leases. At the same time, over the last few years, political scientists have pointed to local politics as a potential venue for progress on a number of policy issues, climate among them. The goal of my paper “Voters Support and are Willing to Pay for Local Climate Adaptation Policies” is to measure the degree to which Americans are willing to pay for climate policy at the local level, with a particular distinction between mitigation policy (reducing emissions) and adaptation policy (reducing the effects of climate change). Voters have reasons why they might wish to make progress on climate change, including implementing their green values, and lessening the impacts of flooding and heat. However, they also may have reasons why they might not wish to do so, including already high tax burdens, and the geographically diffuse benefits of climate mitigation policies in particular. The question of the extent to which individuals are willing to pay for local climate policies is an open one, and one with important policy stakes.