Europe becomes pro-nuclear? Drivers of public support for nuclear energy in six EU countries after the energy crisis of 2022

IF 9.3 2区经济学 Q1 ECONOMICS

Energy Policy Pub Date : 2025-02-22 DOI:10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114528

Zbigniew Bohdanowicz , Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk , Jarosław Kowalski

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article examines public support for nuclear energy in six European Union member states (France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany, and Poland) after the energy crisis of 2022. Based on a survey of 4800 respondents, our results indicate a marked increase in support for nuclear energy compared to previous years. Support is higher among men, people who consider themselves as right-wing (except in Poland), and people who have greater knowledge of nuclear energy.

Surprisingly, the negative relationship between ecological values and support for nuclear energy, observed in earlier studies, is no longer universal. In three of the six countries, ecological values were not a significant factor; in two countries, they were associated with lower support; in one country (Poland), the relationship was the opposite.

The belief that nuclear power plants contribute to climate change was found to reduce support for nuclear energy development significantly across all six countries. Our study highlights the importance of knowledge of nuclear energy and its roles in climate change mitigation and in shaping public attitudes. Our findings suggest a gradual change in perceptions of nuclear energy in the European Union, with potential implications for the energy transition and climate policy goals.

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欧洲支持核能？2022年能源危机后，六个欧盟国家公众支持核能的驱动因素

本文考察了2022年能源危机后六个欧盟成员国（法国、西班牙、意大利、丹麦、德国和波兰）公众对核能的支持。根据对4800名受访者的调查，我们的结果表明，与前几年相比，对核能的支持明显增加。男性、自认为是右翼的人（波兰除外）以及对核能有更多了解的人的支持率更高。令人惊讶的是，在早期的研究中观察到的生态价值和对核能的支持之间的负相关关系不再是普遍存在的。在六个国家中，有三个国家的生态价值不是一个重要因素；在两个国家，他们的支持率较低；在一个国家（波兰），这种关系正好相反。研究发现，认为核电站会导致气候变化的观点大大减少了所有六个国家对核能发展的支持。我们的研究强调了核能知识的重要性及其在减缓气候变化和塑造公众态度方面的作用。我们的研究结果表明，欧盟对核能的看法正在逐渐改变，这对能源转型和气候政策目标有潜在的影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Energy Policy 管理科学-环境科学

CiteScore

17.30

自引率

5.60%

发文量

540

审稿时长

7.9 months

期刊介绍： Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contribute to climate change mitigation. The attributes of energy policy may include legislation, international treaties, incentives to investment, guidelines for energy conservation, taxation and other public policy techniques. Energy policy is closely related to climate change policy because totalled worldwide the energy sector emits more greenhouse gas than other sectors.