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This article studies if, how, and why different revenue uses affect public attitudes to environmental taxation. More specifically, using a large-scale (N = 4292) randomized survey experiment with a 2 × 3 factorial design, the article analyses how attitudes towards a proposed increase in the current air passenger tax in Sweden are altered when combining a tax increase with three different suggestions for revenue use. The increasingly popular fee-and-dividend solution, where revenues are distributed back to the public, thus decreasing negative distributive tax effects, is compared with two additional revenue uses: unspecified government spending on welfare services, and re-investment of revenues into aviation biofuels. Our results show that, although some of the commonly used independent variables such as climate concern, personal norms and political-ideological orientation are significant in determining policy attitudes, varying both tax level and revenue use also tangibly affects how a policy proposal is received. Interestingly, however, the fee-and-dividend approach does not yield the most positive policy attitudes. Rather, directing the revenues to fund an increased use of biofuels for aviation is the alternative that most clearly drives positive attitudes to this policy, and is also the alternative that is perceived as the most effective and fair in both the high tax and the low tax alternatives. • Analyses of community attitudes to an increase in the Swedish air passenger tax. • Three types of revenue use are considered: Fee-and-dividend, Welfare, and Biofuels. • The fee-and-dividend approach does not yield the most positive policy attitudes. • Earmarking the revenue for biofuels leads to higher perceived fairness, effectiveness, and public support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Has the Swedish Climate Policy Framework – including the new Swedish Climate Act – adopted in June 2017, been conducive to advancing climate mitigation, and if so, to what extent and in which aspects? Although Sweden is often described as a frontrunner in climate work, several evaluations prior to the adoption of the Climate Policy Framework and the Climate Act concluded that Swedish climate policy has suffered from both implementation and monitoring deficits, as well as from the fact that climate goals and strategies were non-legally binding. Taken together, such deficits make the stable, long-term prioritizing of climate mitigation over other sector policies increasingly difficult, thus limiting the possibilities to reach future targets. This article focuses on three dimensions of climate policy integration – assessing policy processes, outputs and outcomes – with the aim to analyse political developments and policy outcomes in Sweden after the implementation of the Climate Policy Framework and the Climate Act. The results of a comprehensive set of interviews with policy experts and high-level decision-makers show that the framework is believed to have had important effects, mainly in terms of changing both policy language, cross-sector coordination, and increasing the prioritization of the climate issue. Thus the study (1) contributes to a better theoretical and empirical understanding of Climate Change Acts as instruments for climate policy integration; (2) paves the way for future comparative studies; and (3) presents important practical lessons for policy makers on the effects of legal mechanisms to achieve climate mitigation. Key policy insights Climate Acts provide a legal framework for governmental climate activities. A comprehensive framework including three dimensions of climate policy integration – assessing process, output and outcome, should be used to evaluate Climate Act effects. The Swedish Climate Policy Framework and Climate Act has induced a weak type of climate policy integration, showing effects on climate policy debate, coordination, policy measure implementation and policy support. The framework sends strong signals of political will to address climate change, but the non-inclusion of targets and instruments in the Swedish Climate Act is causing debate and insecurity regarding what policy instruments will be implemented [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining industries of Sweden and Finland currently face several policy issues around investment, stakeholder involvement, and sustainability. Since the two countries garnered significant attention during the mining boom, research from a social sciences perspective grew significantly. One approach to understanding how these issues in Sweden and Finland compare to international examples is through an analysis of the policy development framework. Looking at three factors—institutions, actors, and process—gives a broad overview of the imminent challenges in both Sweden and Finland and potential lessons from existing research that point to similar problems and their solutions. As the mining operations continue to sit at the center of different values, capable policy is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air travel has received increasing attention in the climate debate in recent years. Current climate policy in this sector remains weak in comparison to, for example, the road transport sector. In this study, we analyze public support for seven different national policy measures that have been chosen to reflect the main thinking raised in the debate. Using original data from Sweden (N = 4500), we found that less coercive measures, as well as regulatory measures targeting the aviation industry rather than individuals directly, are more readily supported by the public than market-based policies aiming to push individuals away from air travel. The analyses of the different policy measures reveal many similarities between them. Climate concern, a personal norm to act in a more climate-friendly way, a political orientation to the left and high levels of institutional trust all display strong associations with support for all the different policy types. Perceptions of fairness, in particular, and effectiveness were strongly associated with overall policy support. Interestingly, however, the extent to which a policy measure was expected to affect one's own personal freedom was found to have a very weak correlation with policy support. Key policy insights Public support was higher for 'pull' policies (climate labelling and subsidies for high-speed and night trains), as well as for regulatory measures targeting the aviation industry (biofuel blending mandate), than for policies that aim to push individuals away from air travel (e.g. air passenger tax). The weakest public support was found for frequent flyer taxation and personal carbon allowances. One reason, however, may be that these are novel policy options where the respondents had little prior information. In line with previous research, climate concern, ideology and trust in institutions correlate with attitudes to aviation polices, but the multivariate model showed that perceptions of whether a policy is fair and effective were by far the most important variables. Hence, fairness and effectiveness appear to be crucial aspects for the design of new policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many countries have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the choice of national climate policy measures demonstrates widespread variation. Although system of government, path-dependency and economic entanglements can explain a certain amount of variation in policy choice, research also points specifically towards the highly politicized nature of climate policy instruments and their sensitivity to public support as explanatory factors for cross-national differences. Previous studies hypothesize that various country-specific contextual factors determine both general preferences for environmental protection and the public's preferences for different types of policy instruments. One suggestion is that countries' prevailing political cultures have significant consequences for such public support. Another supposition is that, since countries differ in their economic dependency on climate detrimental industry such as fossil fuel production, this should be a significant factor determining both public attitudes and subsequent political decisions. This paper applies unique, original data from four countries with significant variation in (i) political-cultural contexts (Sweden and Norway vs New Zealand and Australia and (ii) economic dependency (Norway and Australia vs Sweden and New Zealand) to analyze how, and to what extent, these two contextual variables interact with, and moderate, the effect of individual-level factors on support for climate policy measures in the four countries. Furthermore, the paper explores variations in support for different types of CO2 taxes (directed towards individual consumers, industry, and fossil-fuel producers) in the four countries. Key policy insights Across contexts, public policy support is lower for taxes directed towards private consumption than for taxes directed towards industry, and the strongest for CO2 taxes on fossil fuel producing industry. Political culture and economic context influence the effect of individual-level factors on policy support. In a context of high economic dependency on the fossil-fuel industry, people are less likely to support the introduction of CO2 taxes. The effect of left-right ideology on policy support is sensitive to political-cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates public and private preferences towards economic, environmental and sociocultural values associated with a planned large-scale onshore wind-power development in northern Sweden, and analyses the most important determinants of the individual's Willingness to Pay (WTP) for reducing the negative impact associated with the establishment. Sociocultural effects were deemed the most important in the private sample, whereas new job opportunities are valued most highly in the public sample. We further find that ascription to moral and social norms together with individuals’ perceptions related to general and institutional trust constitutes significant determinants of WTP. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new structure for decision-making in relation to management of large carnivores is presently being implemented in Sweden through a system of regional Wildlife Management Delegations (WMD). The governing idea is that strengthened regional influence will increase the legitimacy of both the management system and its outcomes. We use this institutional change as a backdrop for analyzing the possibilities to apply deliberative practices to reduce conflict and enhance legitimacy in the management of natural resources. We argue that structures alone do not determine the prospects of deliberative arrangements; the political context (i.e. the characteristics and relationships among participating actors) is equally important. An analytical framework is proposed that merges structural prospects for deliberation in co-management with stakeholder features, capturing the interests and beliefs of the actors involved. We illustrate the application of this framework by analysing original data from three Wildlife Management Delegations. Our findings show that there are significant differences in the beliefs among the actors within the system. Based on similarities in their beliefs, they can potentially form a relatively strong anti-carnivore/pro-WMD-coalition, opposing the pro-carnivore/anti-WMD-beliefs of the nature conservation interest. Furthermore, the structure is designed to meet vital deliberative criteria, yet we point at substantial differences between statutory and effective representation that, as it coincides with diverging beliefs, can affect decision-making. One qualitative criterion for successful deliberation stands out in our study - reasoned debate. The prospects for deliberation in WMDs to reduce conflict levels among opposing interests seem to depend on the capacity for ensuring exchange of reasonable and informed arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive co-management (ACM) is a key concept in science and an increasingly adopted policy response in conservation, associated with a number of positive outcomes. However, the effects and mechanisms of co-management arrangements, including the conditions under which ACM gives rise to higher levels of internal and external legitimacy, are yet to be explored. This endeavor, in turn, requires theoretically driven models providing assumptions and outlining testable hypotheses. Considering the social challenges of ACM and using an institutional change within the Swedish carnivore management system aimed at achieving legitimacy through co-management as an illustrative example, this article develops a conceptual model that encompasses conditions and possible explanations to ACM outcomes. More specifically, drawing on lessons from social theory, we model the impact of three key factors-social networks, deliberation and learning-on the external and internal legitimacy resulting from ACM arrangements. Based on the model proposed, the popular assumptions of ACM outcomes can thus be empirically scrutinized and the conditions for increased legitimacy through ACM arrangements better comprehended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the theoretical and practical interest in policy networks increases, so does the need for further research into how, and based on what rationales, actors within a policy subsystem engage in interorganizational collective action and form political coalitions. The aim of this paper is to continue the search for explanations for coordination and coalition structures in the setting of Swedish carnivore policy. Based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework ( ACF) and a previous case study within the same policy subsystem, the study investigates a set of hypotheses regarding actors' coordinating behavior and the defining elements of coalitions. The empirical analysis indicates, in support of the ACF, that perceived belief correspondence is a better predictor of coordination than perceived influence. Moreover, the explanatory power of empirical policy core beliefs in general, and normative policy core beliefs in particular, is further reinforced, while deep core beliefs seemingly do not influence coalition structure. The relevance of more shallow beliefs for coalition formation cannot be dismissed and therefore calls for additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the dual role – exemplified by the ideal types of the consumer and the citizen – individuals face in the contemporary environmental policy context. As crowding-out theory highlights the implications of using the ‘wrong’ incentives, examining the match between policy and the value systems guiding individuals' decision-making process in practice is a relevant undertaking. Sweden provides the empirical context for the article, in which official environmental policy-discourse in Sweden is compared with the results of a mail-out survey to 4,000 individuals in four different counties. It is suggested that external motivations are perceived as highly relevant for the promotion of ecological sustainability, so the consumer element as a motivating feature of individuals' behaviour in the environmental field is indeed of considerable importance. However, at the same time people tend to ascribe far greater importance to the motivational values included in the self-transcendence cluster (altruism) as guiding principles in life than to the opposing values of self-enhancement (egoism), indicating that the citizen-role is also important to take into account in policy design. It is concluded that there is a mismatch between the content of Sweden's policy documents and the general value orientation held by the Swedish citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Many outdoor garments are impregnated to make them water and, in some cases oil repellent, but the impregnation agents can be hazardous to human health and the environment. Some examples of such hazardous impregnation agents include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. To reduce the risks related to these fluorinated substances, a phase-out is necessary, and voluntary avoidance by consumers may be one way to make this happen. This experimental survey investigates the extent to which information about the hazardous properties of fluorinated substances affects consumer willingness-to-pay for alternative outdoor garments without hazardous chemicals. The experiment was conducted by means of a questionnaire distributed to more than 4000 Swedish respondents via the Laboratory of Opinion Research's Citizen Panel. The results show a generally high willingness-to-pay, and that the effects of providing information are higher when the price increase is high. This suggests that there is room for a price increase if the non-hazardous options are more expensive. This survey experiment indicates that the Swedish general public is ready for substitution to garments without hazardous fluorinated chemicals if the alternative provides an identical function. Information campaigns, however, will have limited ability to increase the willingness-to-pay for an alternative as it is already high. Despite the general willingness of the Swedish public to choose less hazardous options, legislative measures may potentially be the most effective action when supply chains are opaque and information to consumers is limited. Highlights • High public readiness for substitution of hazardous PFAS in outdoor garments. • Information about chemical hazards had effect on willingness-to-pay (WTP). • Room for a price increase if the non-hazardous options are more expensive. • Limited ability to increase the WTP for an alternative when WTP is already high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]