Title : What policies do homeowners prefer for building decarbonization and why? An exploration of climate policy support in Canada
Abstract:
Residential buildings account for 17% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While many
governments have implemented or promised to implement policies to reduce building GHG emissions, it remains unclear whether these policies receive widespread public support and why. Understanding the levels and characteristics of public support is important to ensure the policies’ long-lasting impacts onGHG emissions. Further, most existing policy support studies tend to focus on economy-wide or transportation-specific climate policies and/or examine predictors of policy support using aggregate policy indices overlooking the unique characteristics associated with different policy types. Our study overcomes these gaps. Using a comprehensive set of attitudinal and contextual variables from Stern’s Attitude-Behaviour- Context framework, we collect survey data from a representative sample of Canadian homeowners (n =3,804) to explore (1) levels of homeowner support for specific types of home decarbonization policy in Canada and by Canadian region, (2) individual characteristics associated with support for specific policy types, and (3) heterogeneity across respondents based on patterns of policy support. Results indicate that the majority of homeowners (64-82%) support voluntary policies such as subsidies and loan programs for low-carbon heating technology, while compulsory policies (e.g., carbon taxes, renewable natural gas mandates, building emission regulations) receive less support (38–49%). Characteristics associatedwith consistent support for most home decarbonization policies fall into five categories: altruistic values, climate concern, trust in scientists, positive perceptions of heat pumps, and higher education. Other characteristics are associated with specific policy types. For example, renewable natural gas mandates are the only home decarbonization policy supported by those who live in rural areas and trust the fossil fuel industry, making it a good candidate for compulsory policy implementation in resource-dependent remote regionstypically opposed to climate policy. Further, cluster analysis suggests that respondents fall into three groups based on patterns of policy support: those supportive of all home decarbonization policies representing 43% of respondents, those supportive of voluntary policies only (37%), andthose opposed to all home decarbonization policies (20%). The most notable observation is that homeowners supportive of all policy types are relatively younger and more likely to be female than those who support voluntary policy only. Based on this analysis, we offer recommendations for designing climate policies to accelerate emissionsreductions in residential buildings.
