Conference Agenda

This paper examines how the immediate targets of non-violent civil disobedience and information about carbon inequality influence public acceptance of climate protests and support for related climate policies. Using a large-scale lab-in-the-field experiment with 5,200 participants in Germany, we randomly exposed participants to images of non-violent civil disobedience targeting either average citizens (e.g., obstructing traffic) or wealthy individuals (e.g., defacing a private jet). Participants were also provided with information comparing their carbon footprints to those of either average citizens or billionaires to emphasize disparities in climate impact between both groups. Our findings show that acceptance of non-violent civil disobedience is generally low, and financial support for organizations associated with these actions, such as Fridays for Future and the Last Generation, is significantly lower than for other environmental groups like Greenpeace and WWF. However, acceptance slightly increases when protests target wealthy individuals, particularly when paired with information highlighting the disproportionate emissions of billionaires compared to average citizens. Despite this modest increase in acceptance, we find no significant effect on financial contributions to organizations linked to non-violent civil disobedience or on support for stricter climate policies. These results suggest that while targeting wealthy individuals and emphasizing carbon inequality can modestly improve public attitudes toward non-violent civil disobedience, these strategies have limited potential to generate broader public support or tangible financial backing for climate protest movements.