Are populist parties systematically more sceptical about climate change? Evidence from an Expert Survey

Populism is often cited as a core challenge for far-reaching climate action in Europe. The evidence is particularly strong when it comes to right-wing populist parties. For left-wing populist parties, the empirical evidence is more mixed, sometimes suggesting that these parties are more progressive on climate action. In this study at hand, we challenge this second finding and argue that populism, irrespective of the thick ideology of political parties, is associated with more sceptical views on climate change policy and climate science. In order to test this, we rely on a new wave of the POPPA Expert survey. The findings generally support the notion that populism and climate sceptic positions are associated on a party level.