Piecing together the puzzle: can policy packaging make carbon pricing work?

Carbon pricing can be an effective instrument for mitigating climate change. Yet, despite some growth over the past decade, public attitudes remain a major barrier to a broader adoption of these policies. Drawing on a large-scale survey experiment in Belgium, we provide novel evidence that framing carbon pricing from the beginning of the policy process within a broader policy package can significantly enhance acceptability. We also contribute to the literature by investigating both the drivers for pure carbon pricing and carbon pricing packages in a single study. While climate concern, perceived effectiveness, and especially perceived fairness, are identified among the main factors explaining acceptability of carbon pricing policies, the expected financial impact on people’s own household is only a key factor for standalone carbon pricing. This suggests that revenue use can mitigate concerns about the financial impact, and more broadly that policy packaging can positively affect public acceptability of carbon pricing policies.