Florent Gougoulecturer in political science at Sciences Po Grenoble and the Pacte laboratory, @FlorentGougouAnouck Perrette, Master's student in Comparative Government Sciences, and Simon PersicoProfessor of Political Science at Sciences Po Grenoble and the Pacte laboratory, @SimPersico

The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regularly remind us that a scientific consensus exists today that global climate change has been observed since the beginning of the the Anthropocene. Established as a "public problem" (Gusfield, 1989) since the end of the 1990s (Comby, 2015), climate has taken on a growing role in political and media debate. political and media debate. In the broadest sense the environment has made its way onto all research agendas, whether in the natural natural sciences and the humanities and social sciences.

For social sciences, the question of how environmental values are disseminated is a crucial issue for the social sciences. Long associated with the cultural revolution on the cultural revolution of the 1960s (Inglehart, 1977), it is now being applied in a wide range of many different directions. It thus leads us to question the way in which citizens citizens appropriate the results of science (Boy and Brugidou, 2004), measuring the effects of the context on citizens' environmental opinions (Brouard et al., 2013), or to assess the way in which citizens' social position social position influences these opinions (Bozonnet, 2001; Gougou and Persico Persico, 2019).

In 2000 and 2010, the ISSP already included an Environment module. The wave 2020, administered in France between April and June 2021 due to Covid-19, has taken up and completed this module. It enables us to renew our understanding French people's opinions on the environment, focusing on four main results: (1) concern for the environment has risen sharply, and has been reframed as concern about global warming; (2) the adoption of a more of a more environmentally protective lifestyle through individual efforts divides the French and is hampered by economic constraints; (3) coercion is the is the preferred route to systemic change, while information and awareness-raising information and awareness-raising are preferred at the individual level; (4) opposing values and behaviours with regard to the environment are increasingly in line with the opposition between left-wing and right-wing right-wing positioning on the political chessboard.

Concern for the environment : progress and refocusing

Two indicators of growing concern for the environment. À to the question of the most important issue for France today, 26% of respondents of those surveyed in 2021 put the environment either first or second, the environment: 10 points more than in 2010. At the same time question "Would you say you are concerned about the environment? 73% of people surveyed in 2021 place themselves on modalities 4 and 5 on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 means very concerned: this is 12 points higher than in 2010 (Figure 1).

Two indicators attest to the growing concern for the environment. When asked what is the most important issue for France today, 26% of people surveyed in 2021 put the environment either first or second: 10 points more than in 2010. Meanwhile, in response to the question "Would you say you are concerned about the environment?", 73% of people surveyed in 2021 placed themselves on modalities 4 and 5 of a scale ranging from 1 to 5, where 5 means very concerned: this is 12 points more than in 2010 (figure 1).

Behind this marked increase in the salience of the environmental theme lies a major shift in the nature of concerns in the eyes of the French. Between 2010 and 2021, climate change rose to the top of the list of concerns: it is now the most important environmental issue for 27% of respondents, up 19 points on 2010 (Figure 2). The momentum is considerable, and reflects a massive increase in public awareness. Climate change has overtaken chemicals and pesticides as the most important issue for almost a quarter of those questioned.

Individual changes: acceptability under economic constraints

Since the Paris agreements, climate change mitigation targets have become an integral part an integral part of French people's daily lives, with targets for targets for 2030 and 2050. Certain eco-gestures are now part of everyday practices: today, 87% of people surveyed say they make a special effort to sort their waste for recycling". for recycling" (glass, aluminum cans, plastic, 76% in 2010 and 53% in 2000. At the same time, 16% of those surveyed said they "always avoid buying to protect the environment", while 47% "often" and often" and 30% "sometimes". Finally, only 13% of of those surveyed said they had flown in the last 12 months, and only months, and 3% had taken more than two trips. If desirability bias and social conformism cannot be ruled out, and may lead to an over-reporting of eco-responsible behavior, the responses nonetheless bear witness a change in representations.

However, these developments come up against economic constraints. In 2021, 39% of those questioned said they were "quite" (5%) or "rather" (34%) prepared to accept a reduction in their standard of living to protect the environment (figure 3). This proportion was 32% in 2000 and stagnated in 2010 at 31%, when the effects of the 2008 economic and financial crisis were still felt. In the same vein, the 2010 survey recorded a significant rise in the number of people "not ready" and "really not ready" to "pay much higher prices to protect the environment".

The acceptability of changes at the individual level also divides French people when it comes to reducing consumption behavior: half of those questioned half of those questioned agreed with the idea that "it would be acceptable to introduce a policy of limiting individual to avoid over-consumption", while the other half disagreed. disagree.

Beyond that, the sample is divided on the effectiveness and fairness of individual behavioral changes: a slight majority of respondents (52%) disagree with the idea that "There's no point in doing what I can to do what I can for the environment if others don't do the same". do the same". This proportion, stable compared to 2000, indicates a certain internalization of individual responsibility in terms of eco-responsible eco-responsible behaviour, especially as 60% of those surveyed consider themselves consider themselves capable of acting in favor of the environment.

Modalities of change: the path of coercion at the systemic level

This ability to change things does not require the same means, depending on whether the effort is required at the level of individuals or at the level of the economic system. When it comes to "encouraging individuals and their families to protect the environment", the most frequent response is information and education (49%), a proposal stable compared to 2010 (figure 4A). When it comes to "encouraging companies to protect the environment", the most frequent response is sanctions and heavy fines (39%), up almost 10 points on 2010 (figure 4B). More often chosen by men than by women, coercion is also on the rise at individual level, but is favored by fewer than 19% of respondents.

For however, there seems to be no question of questioning the fundamentals of the the foundations of the current economic system. Less than 10% of the of the sample strongly agreed with the statement that to solve the climate crisis, we need to leave the capitalist system". system", while 53% strongly disagreed. with this idea. Similarly, 54% disagree with the idea that that "to solve the environmental crisis, it is necessary to the objective of economic growth". The bottom line although the opinion that "economic growth always harms the environment the environment" is increasing over time (25% in 2000, 30% in in 2010, 37% in 2021), green growth seems possible for the majority of the sample.

Environmental protection, a left-wing value value

Whatever whatever the dimension of analysis used (concern for the environment, acceptability of change at individual level, questioning the foundations of the current economic system in order to protect the environment), environmental positions on environmental issues are strongly aligned with the left-right opposition.

By way of illustration, over 45% of respondents on the left (positions 1 to 4 on the left-right scale) say they are prepared to accept a reduction in their standard of living in order to protect the environment, compared with 24% of those on neither the left nor the right (position 5) and 29% of those on the right (positions 6 to 10) (Figure 5).

The alignment of ecological values and preferences with the left-right axis can be analyzed as a consequence of the increased salience of the environment in the minds of the citizens surveyed, as described above. As a conflict (or, at the very least, a set of issues) unfolds in public debate and attracts the attention of citizens, it is integrated by institutions and political parties, while in turn helping to redefine the contours and content of the political system. These dynamics point to a significant evolution in the structure of ecological opinions and practices. But they are taking place over the long term, even as the timeframe of the ecological crisis shrinks month by month.

We reproduce here a briefing note originally written for PROGEDO: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04314423

References

Boy D., Brugidou D.B. and M., 2004, "Environmental risk and politics", in Le nouveau désordre désordre électoral, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po, p. 71-95.

Bozonnet J.-P., 2001, "Les préoccupations environnementales en Europe: Réaction aux nuisances et construction idéologique", in Reynié D., Cautrès B. (dirs.), L'opinion européenne 2001, Presse de Sciences Po, Paris, p. 123-158.

Brouard S., Gougou F., Guinaudeau I., Persico S., 2013, "Un effet de campagne : le déclin de l'opposition des Français au nucléaire en 2011-2012", Revue française de science politique, 63, 6, p. 1051-1079.

Comby J.-B., 2015, La question climatique: genèse et dépolitisation d'un problème public, Paris, Raisons d'agir, 244 p.

Gougou F., Persico S., 2019, " Protéger l'environnement ou défendre la croissance?", in Bréchon P., Gonthier F., Astor S. (dirs.), La France des valeurs, Grenoble, Presses universitaires de Grenoble. Grenoble, p. 356-362.

Gusfield J.R., 1989, "Constructing the Ownership of Social Problems: Fun and Profit in the Welfare State*", Social Problems, 36, 5, pp. 431-441.

Inglehart R., 1977, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western Publics, Princeton, Princeton University Press.