Effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions requires far-reaching public policies and systemic changes, which depend on the acceptance by a critical mass of the public to be politically feasible and achievable. A central factor shaping policy acceptance is the perceived personal cost of implementing the policy. Not surprisingly, prior research shows that policies imposing lower personal costs are more widely accepted. Yet, while many behavior changes essential for significant emission reductions entail substantial costs, the costs differ in type. They may arise as financial expenses, time and effort, or more intangible losses such as reduced comfort, pleasure, or freedom. Understanding how different cost types affect acceptance is crucial for designing impactful policies with minimal adverse effects.
In a pre-registered survey with a German sample (n = 1000), we examine the acceptance of policies across six domains, such as meat consumption and air travel. Each domain includes four policy instruments: a nudge, an incentive, a tax, and a law. Our findings show that both the magnitude and type of expected cost significantly relate to policy acceptance. We identify distinct effects for tangible trade-offs (financial cost, comfort, and convenience), fulfillment costs (joy, personality, and freedom), behavior change costs (effort, time, habits), and social and cultural identity costs (social cost, traditions, nostalgia), at both within- and between-person levels. Interestingly, we find that social and cultural identity costs, contrary to expectations, are associated with higher, rather than lower, acceptance of policies. Moreover, expected changes in well-being partially mediate the link between perceived costs and policy acceptance. We discuss implications of these findings for both theory and the design of effective climate policies in practice.