Perspectives on Climate Change: Attitudes, Challenges, and Policy Recommendations - Evidence from Five Countries in Europe and Central Asia

Climate change is among the most significant social, economic, and environmental threats. Achieving even modest climate targets will depend on local-to-global coordination on costly and far-reaching policies. This research program will focus on the national climate change policymaking context in five countries – Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan – to identify both challenges and opportunities to achieving sufficient consensus for action and reform. This study aims to identify the depth of stakeholders’ support in pursuing aggressive policy to address climate change and differences in the salience of the issue between different stakeholder groups. Nearly all recent surveys have focused on perceptions of the public, while there are a range of other actors relevant to the formulation of policy aimed at addressing climate change. Stakeholders such as government and industry also play decisive roles. However, these actors may have different levels of interest or prioritization which in turn affects the probability of successfully implementing climate change related policy. The report focuses on deep dive surveys collected from two stakeholders, businesses and the general public. The report summarizes the depth and prioritization of climate change in public policy and contrasts the survey responses between the stakeholders, demonstrating the degree of consensus or disagreement around policy to address climate change.