The topic of this dissertation is to examine the influential factors on citizens’ climate policy attitudes from the comparative perspective. The study is based on four articles published between 2020 and 2023. The research question considers how various macro- and micro-level factors are associated with supporting climate policy instruments. It is essential to obtain more information about the factors influencing climate policy attitudes because understanding them can lead to better decision-making in terms of efficiency and continuity. Earlier studies have also shown an association between citizens’ attitudes and realised climate policy.

European Social Survey Round 8 (collected in 2016–2017) and Finland-2019 survey data were used in the analysis. The data were analysed using statistical methods: multilevel modelling, linear regression analysis, ordinal logistic regression analysis, and interaction effects.

One observation is that climate political attitudes are partly, but to a limited extent, dependent on macro-level factors. How much depends on the climate policy. For example, support for the taxation of fossil fuels depends more on macro-level factors than on banning most energy-inefficient household appliances. Another finding is that the welfare-state model is associated with support for taxation of fossil fuels: people living in the Nordic countries, which are classified as the Nordic welfare regime, generally support it more than the rest of Europe. According to the results, higher support for fossil fuel taxation may be partly due to the strong political trust at the country level, which is a characteristic of the Nordic countries. Additionally, the findings indicate that higher levels of generalised trust at the macro level are associated with greater support for such taxation measures. In the cross-national analysis, neither gross domestic product nor CO2 emissions per capita significantly affected citizens’ attitudes.

Individual-level left-wing orientation is associated with more substantial support for the taxation of fossil fuels. However, this association is generally weaker in the former Eastern Bloc countries. Political trust is also associated at the individual level with more support for the taxation of fossil fuels. This finding was confirmed in most of the European countries examined. The same applied to a generalised trust, but the association was generally weaker and found to be significant in fewer countries.

In the examined Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, and Sweden), political party preference was more strongly associated with support for fossil fuel taxation than social class position. The most support was found among supporters of the so-called new-left parties and the least among the populist right. In Sweden, the attitudinal gap between new-left and populist-right supporters was vast among younger citizens. In addition, the social and cultural experts’ class supported fossil fuel taxation more than other social classes.

Among Finns, urban–rural domicile did not seem to be a significant dividing line supporting climate policy measures. Only the instruments that are closely related to rural businesses were found to be significantly more common among those living in urban areas. In the case of reducing logging, a higher subjective closeness to the district widened the difference in attitude between urban and rural residents.

In Finland, specific instruments, such as reducing logging, introducing a carbon tax, cutting beef production subsidies, and implementing a cap-and-trade program, were more popular global- than national-level measures. However, no particularly significant differences were found between those living in rural areas and those living in urban areas regarding support for global- and national-level means. The fact that specific measures were more popular internationally than at the national level provides partial support for the collective action problem theory.