When trusting the state is not enough: broader institutional trust and public support for energy transition policies

Existing research shows that public attitudes toward climate policies reflect political trust. Support for some policies may reflect not only trust in the state and its institutions, narrowly defined, but also other institutions. In this paper, we show how a broader measure of institutional trust that includes the state but reaches beyond it matters for public opinion toward energy transition policies, including just transition policies assisting workers who lose their jobs because of new environmental policies. Using data from Iceland, we find that trust in both state and non-state institutions correlates with attitudes toward three key energy transition policies: taxation of fossil fuels, subsidies for renewable energy, and just transition support for workers. More narrowly defined political trust, in contrast, correlates only with attitudes towards taxes. These results suggest that support for climate action, including a just energy transition, reflects overarching trust towards different institutions, including but not limited to the state.