Proposals for a new conservative climate narrative

To maintain and regain the climate policy acceptance of the conservative middle, both new climate policy actions and a new discourse on these actions are needed. Only if conservative groups are offered a convincing alternative to an expensive and dirigiste climate policy can an anti-climate backlash be prevented.

Findings from acceptance research show that a majority of Germans support ambitious climate protection, but climate change is losing importance compared to other issues. Conservative groups are divided on whether a more ambitious climate policy is needed. Pricing CO₂ through emissions trading is met with scepticism by these groups, as it is perceived as another source of state revenue and a supplement to climate policy measures within the framework of green climate narratives, rather than as an alternative to dirigiste and detailed regulations and subsidies.

The study proposes a climate narrative that can reach citizens who desire a pragmatic climate policy. The central building blocks of such a climate narrative are:

• Global Cooperation: climate protection is understood as a global problem that can only be tackled through international cooperation.
• Cost Efficiency: a conservative climate policy aims at the efficient use of resources.
• Liberal Narrative: conservative climate policy preserves individual freedom of action without prescribing a detailed lifestyle.
• Coherent Strategy: emissions trading is the key instrument, supplemented only by tools that fit it and enhance its effectiveness.

Instead of the previous, unproductive competition over who offers more or less climate protection, there should be a competition over who offers the better, more cost-efficient, and effective climate policy. Ambitious climate goals can only be achieved if the policy focuses on efficient and effective instruments. If emissions trading and similar measures do not achieve global climate goals, then more expensive and less efficient instruments certainly will not. Conservative climate policy is not a watered-down version of green climate policy; it is a globally more effective and efficient alternative.

You can read the entire publication „Vorschläge für eine neue bürgerliche Klimaerzählung“ here. Please note, to date the analysis is only available in German.