Klimapolitik während der Corona-Pandemie: Ergebnisse einer Haushaltserhebung

Based on a survey among more than 6,000 household heads, we present early comprehensive evidence for Germany on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on perceptions of climate change and climate policy, on health-related and financial experience of the respondents, and on climate-related effects of economic stimulus packages. The main results are as follows: Although the share of respondents who have been infected is small, there is considerable concern about the health-related and financial impacts of the pandemic. Most notably, climate change remains an important topic: Only six percent state that the importance of climate change has decreased since the beginning of the year, whereas 23% report that climate change has even gained in relevance. However, preliminary regression results suggest that households suffering financial losses due to the pandemic tend to evaluate climate change as less relevant than unaffected households.

Frondel, Manuel, Gerhard Kussel, Tobias Larysch and Daniel Osberghaus (2020), Klimapolitik während der Corona-Pandemie: Ergebnisse einer Haushaltserhebung, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 20-041, Mannheim.