Substitute or Compliment? American Views on Climate Mitigation and Adaptation

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Abstract

As the Biden Administration develops and implements federal climate policy as one of the core priorities of the new presidency, a variety of approaches to respond to the problem are being considered. Mitigation based efforts such as rejoining the Paris agreement, and bolstering automobile efficiency standards have been prominent in the early stages of the Biden climate agenda. However, longer-term climate initiatives including major adaptation and infrastructure resiliency components are also part of the Biden climate strategy. In essence, the Biden approach pairs mitigation and adaptation as complimentary elements in a broader climate governance plan. But as previous efforts have failed to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and evidence of climate change impacts mounts, is the American public committed to a policy that places mitigation and adaptation as complimentary components, or do Americans look more at mitigation and adaptation as substitute approaches, with clear preferences for one over the other?

In this paper, American public opinion regarding the balance of climate policy approaches at the start of the Biden Administration is examined, and compared with opinion on this matter over the last decade. This examination utilizes data collected through the National Surveys on Energy and the Environment (NSEE) between 2010 and 2021. The NSEE has regularly asked Americans if they view mitigation, adaptation and geoengineering as complimentary policy approaches, or if they see adaptive and climate intervention approaches as substitutes for mitigation efforts. The study will provide insight into the evolution of American views on the relationship between mitigation and adaptive policy approaches, and how factors such as partisanship, ideology, gender, age and educational attainment affect opinion on how various climate policy approaches should be balanced and prioritized in the United States.

Author

• Christopher P. Borick, Muhlenberg College