Assistant Professor of Government Catherine Chen was the lead author on an article recently published online by the political science journal Environmental Politics.
In “From climate crisis to energy crisis: foster public support for renewable energy transition through framing,” Chen and fellow researchers in Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. presented findings of their study on “how message framing affects individuals’ preferences toward renewable energy adoption policies under the backdrop of societal-level energy crises.”
In a U.K.-based survey experiment in early 2024, they tested the effect of three messages – energy affordability, energy independence, and climate change vs. control – all aiming to encourage support for renewable adoption policies. The researchers found that “across all respondents, the climate-change and energy-affordability messages increase policy support, while the effect of the energy-independence message is nonsignificant.”
They found that “the energy independence message increased policy support among the political center-right but not among the political left,” and also “increased policy support among those not concerned about climate change, but not among the climate-concerned.” They noted that “contrary to expectations, the energy affordability message increased policy support among moderate-to-high-income respondents but not low-income respondents.”
They concluded that
- Climate change is still a reliably convincing argument for the general public to support renewable energy adoption policies even when an acute energy crisis occurs.
- Emphasizing energy independence can encourage center-right voters or those unconcerned about the climate to support renewable policies.
- Low-income individuals may not see existing renewable policies as addressing their immediate affordability concerns.
Posted October 9, 2025
