Effects Of The "Polluter Pays" Principle : A quantitative study about the effects of environmental taxation on European citizens’ personal climate efforts

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines the relationship between environmental taxation and personal climate action, among respondents from Eurobarometer surveys in the European Union, between 2013 and 2023. The thesis aims to explore the association between the two factors, while considering plausible mediating effects on different political levels. In addition, the study builds on expectations that this effect will differ between various groups of respondents, hypothesising that other factors cause varying degrees of strength in the association. To explore the relationship quantitatively, the thesis uses both Logistic and Ordinary Least Squares-regressions, while complementing this method with predicted margins to illustrate empirical results. The data for the statistical analysis is sourced from the European Commission, Eurobarometer and national election results. The thesis finds that individuals in countries with higher environmental tax rates exercise higher degrees of personal climate action, on average. Further, the strength of this effect varies between groups of society. The thesis contributes to the research field by combining data on the micro-and macro-level, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the efficiency of environmental taxation on individual action. In addition, this study signifies a shift compared to previous research, which establishes mostly country-level efficiency in relation to environmental taxes.