IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/irlaec/v79y2024ics0144818824000334.html

Beyond courts: Does strategic litigation affect climate change policy support?

Author

Listed:
  • Kovács, Anna
  • Luckner, Katharina
  • Sekuła, Anna
  • Kantorowicz, Jarosław

Abstract

Strategic climate change litigation is a rising phenomenon that has attracted considerable academic interest. Still, limited understanding exists of the effects of strategic litigation cases outside the courtroom – more specifically, on whether strategic litigation can influence public attitudes on climate change policy. Based on the concept of legal cueing, we conduct a pre-registered vignette experiment with a quota-representative sample of UK citizens to study the impact of information on strategic climate change litigation on stated and revealed preferences for climate policy measures. We furthermore perform an exploratory analysis of participants’ demographic characteristics and their expressed sentiment towards a carbon tax. Overall, the experiment returns null results, suggesting no direct link between strategic climate litigation and policy attitudes in our experimental setup. We discuss how legal cues may affect attitudes in a more indirect and cumulative manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Kovács, Anna & Luckner, Katharina & Sekuła, Anna & Kantorowicz, Jarosław, 2024. "Beyond courts: Does strategic litigation affect climate change policy support?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:79:y:2024:i:c:s0144818824000334
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2024.106213
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144818824000334
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irle.2024.106213?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joana Setzer & Lisa C. Vanhala, 2019. "Climate change litigation: A review of research on courts and litigants in climate governance," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(3), May.
    2. Brian J Preston, 2021. "The Influence of the Paris Agreement on Climate Litigation: Causation, Corporate Governance and Catalyst (Part II)," Journal of Environmental Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 227-256.
    3. Stefanie Stantcheva, 2023. "How to Run Surveys: A Guide to Creating Your Own Identifying Variation and Revealing the Invisible," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 15(1), pages 205-234, September.
    4. Al-Shemmeri, Tarik & Naylor, Lucy, 2017. "Energy saving in UK FE colleges: The relative importance of the socio-economic groups and environmental attitudes of employees," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1130-1143.
    5. Bullock, John G., 2011. "Elite Influence on Public Opinion in an Informed Electorate," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(3), pages 496-515, August.
    6. Beatrice Ferrario & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "Eliciting People's First-Order Concerns: Text Analysis of Open-Ended Survey Questions," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 163-169, May.
    7. Benoit Mayer, 2023. "The Contribution of Urgenda to the Mitigation of Climate Change," Journal of Environmental Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 167-184.
    8. Rhodes, Ekaterina & Axsen, Jonn & Jaccard, Mark, 2017. "Exploring Citizen Support for Different Types of Climate Policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 56-69.
    9. Kantorowicz, Jaroslaw & Collewet, Marion & DiGiuseppe, Matthew & Vrijburg, Hendrik, 2024. "How to finance green investments? The role of public debt," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Falk, Armin & Boneva, Teodora & Chopra, Felix, 2021. "Fighting Climate Change: the Role of Norms, Preferences, and Moral Values," CEPR Discussion Papers 16343, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    11. Rinscheid, Adrian & Pianta, Silvia & Weber, Elke U., 2021. "What shapes public support for climate change mitigation policies? The role of descriptive social norms and elite cues," Behavioural Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 503-527, October.
    12. Kitschelt, Herbert P., 1986. "Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 57-85, January.
    13. Joshua D. Kertzer & Thomas Zeitzoff, 2017. "A Bottom‐Up Theory of Public Opinion about Foreign Policy," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 61(3), pages 543-558, July.
    14. Stefan Drews & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, 2016. "What explains public support for climate policies? A review of empirical and experimental studies," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(7), pages 855-876, October.
    15. Paula Vicente & Catarina Marques & Elizabeth Reis, 2021. "Willingness to Pay for Environmental Quality: The Effects of Pro-Environmental Behavior, Perceived Behavior Control, Environmental Activism, and Educational Level," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    16. Madsen, Mikael Rask & Mayoral, Juan A. & Strezhnev, Anton & Voeten, Erik, 2022. "Sovereignty, Substance, and Public Support for European Courts’ Human Rights Rulings," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 116(2), pages 419-438, May.
    17. Eriksson, Louise & Garvill, Jörgen & Nordlund, Annika M., 2008. "Acceptability of single and combined transport policy measures: The importance of environmental and policy specific beliefs," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 42(8), pages 1117-1128, October.
    18. Robbe Geerts & Frédéric Vandermoere & Hanne Dallenes & Raf Vanderstraeten, 2022. "Crowding-In and Crowding-Out. Studying the Relationship between Sustainable Citizenship and Political Activism in Flanders," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-12, August.
    19. Delmas, Magali A. & Lessem, Neil, 2014. "Saving power to conserve your reputation? The effectiveness of private versus public information," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 353-370.
    20. Umit, Resul & Schaffer, Lena Maria, 2020. "Attitudes towards carbon taxes across Europe: The role of perceived uncertainty and self-interest," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Faure & Jaroslaw Kantorowicz & Akiva Weiss, 2025. "Attribution and Migration: A Survey Experiment," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 2271-2292, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreassen, Gøril L. & Kallbekken, Steffen & Rosendahl, Knut Einar, 2024. "Can policy packaging help overcome Pigouvian tax aversion? A lab experiment on combining taxes and subsidies," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Adrien Fabre & Tobias Kruse & Bluebery Planterose & Ana Sanchez Chico & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2025. "Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes toward Climate Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(4), pages 1258-1300, April.
    3. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline & Mouez Fodha, 2023. "Debt, tax and environmental policy [Dette, taxe et politique environnementale]," Post-Print halshs-04181981, HAL.
    4. Louis J. Kotzé & Benoit Mayer & Harro van Asselt & Joana Setzer & Frank Biermann & Nicolas Celis & Sam Adelman & Bridget Lewis & Amanda Kennedy & Helen Arling & Birgit Peters, 2024. "Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(1), pages 5-22, February.
    5. Ziegler, Andreas, 2019. "The Relevance of Attitudinal Factors for the Acceptance of Energy Policy Measures: A Micro-econometric Analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 129-140.
    6. Goerg, Sebastian & Pondorfer, Andreas & Stöhr, Valentina, 2025. "Public support for more ambitious climate policies: Empirical evidence from Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    7. Ejelöv, Emma & Nässén, Jonas & Matti, Simon & Elinder, Liselott Schäfer & Larsson, Jörgen, 2025. "Public and political acceptability of a food tax shift – An experiment with policy framing and revenue use," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    8. Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2022. "Rendre acceptable la nécessaire taxation du carbone. Quelles pistes pour la France ?," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(1), pages 15-53.
    9. Fabienne Cantner & Geske Rolvering, 2022. "Does information help to overcome public resistance to carbon prices? Evidence from an information provision experiment," Working Papers 219, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    10. Habla, Wolfgang & Kokash, Kumai & Löfgren, Åsa & Straubinger, Anna & Ziegler, Andreas, 2024. "Self-interest and support of climate-related transport policy measures: An empirical analysis for citizens in Germany and Sweden," ZEW Discussion Papers 24-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Sebastian Levi & Christian Flachsland & Michael Jakob, 2020. "Political Economy Determinants of Carbon Pricing," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 128-156, May.
    12. Groh, Elke D. & Möllendorff, Charlotte v., 2020. "What shapes the support of renewable energy expansion? Public attitudes between policy goals and risk, time, and social preferences," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    13. repec:osf:osfxxx:8cquz_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. N. Badullovich & J. Kotcher & T. A. Myers & S. A. Rosenthal & A. Leiserowitz & E. Maibach, 2025. "Understanding six “key truths” about climate change predicts policy support, discussion, and political advocacy," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 178(5), pages 1-23, May.
    15. Axsen, Jonn & Wolinetz, Michael, 2023. "What does a low-carbon fuel standard contribute to a policy mix? An interdisciplinary review of evidence and research gaps," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 54-63.
    16. Kettner, Claudia & Leoni, Thomas & Köberl, Judith & Kortschak, Dominik & Sommer, Mark & Kulmer, Veronika, 2026. "Investigating equity and efficiency in carbon pricing with revenue recycling: A combined macro- and micro-modelling approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 209(PB).
    17. Long, Zoe & Axsen, Jonn & Kitt, Shelby, 2020. "Public support for supply-focused transport policies: Vehicle emissions, low-carbon fuels, and ZEV sales standards in Canada and California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 98-115.
    18. Julio Elías & Nicola Lacetera & Mario Macis, 2026. "Is the Price Right? The Role of Economic Trade-Offs in Explaining Reactions to Price Surges," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(3), pages 1814-1834, March.
    19. Daniele Malerba, 2022. "The Effects of Social Protection and Social Cohesion on the Acceptability of Climate Change Mitigation Policies: What Do We (Not) Know in the Context of Low- and Middle-Income Countries?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1358-1382, June.
    20. Oskar Lindgren & Erik Elwing & Mikael Karlsson & Sverker C. Jagers, 2024. "Public acceptability of climate-motivated rationing," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    21. van den Bergh, Jeroen, 2023. "Climate policy versus growth concerns: Suggestions for economic research and communication," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:79:y:2024:i:c:s0144818824000334. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/irle .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.