Not in my Backyard? Climate Change Denial between Property, Wind Turbines and Populism

In light of societal polarization regarding climate change attitudes, this study investigates the sociostructural and cultural determinants of climate change skepticism in Germany, with a focus on homeownership and local wind energy infrastructure. Drawing on data from the second wave of the FGZ-RISC Regionalpanel, the analysis integrates georeferenced spatial indicators and individual-level survey responses across four large cities in Germany. Climate skepticism is operationalized as a composite index capturing distrust in climate science and questioning of anthropogenic climate change. Linear regression models with clustered standard errors reveal that right-wing populist orientation is a strong predictor of climate skepticism. Moreover, homeownership was associated with higher skepticism, suggesting a mechanism of motivated reasoning triggered by perceived economic burdens. Contrary to widespread concerns, the mere presence of wind energy infrastructure can decrease skepticism. The interaction between political orientation, homeownership, and renewable energy exposure further underscores the role of interpretive frames in shaping attitudes toward climate policy. These findings contribute to sociological debates on the politicization of climate change by highlighting how material conditions, place-based experiences, and identity-protective cognition jointly structure environmental attitudes. The study underscores the need to contextualize climate skepticism with regard to both social inequality and the presence of spatial infrastructures of climate policy implementation.