As the European Commission prepares to reveal its proposal for the EU ETS on 15 July, the poll’s findings challenge calls to weaken the mechanism, revealing widespread public support for its core principles: making polluters pay and rewarding industrial decarbonisation. Citizens also support that any remaining free allowances should come with conditionalities to real climate action and just transition.
Key Findings:
- A majority of 59% of European citizens support measures requiring heavy industry to pay for its CO₂ emissions; only 23% are against. Support extends across political divides, reaching well beyond the traditional green electorate.
- An overwhelming 72% believe that companies emitting the most—or those failing to reduce their emissions—should pay more than others. Only 9% favour all companies paying the same amount, while just 8% believe companies should not be required to pay at all.
- One in two (50%) favour investing carbon revenues in industrial decarbonisation, rather than extending free allowances; only 18% support continued free allocation.
- A majority of 62% believes that, where companies are exempted from paying for their CO₂ emissions, they should be required to reinvest the value of those exemptions in reducing future emissions.
- Similarly, 63% of European citizens believe that companies benefiting from exemptions from carbon pricing should support a just industrial transition by investing in workforce reskilling, providing staff training and guaranteeing high-quality working conditions.
- One in two (50%) believes that companies benefiting from exemptions should involve local communities in decisions about industrial transformation and its impacts.
This European Political Monthly (EPM) survey was conducted by YouGov on behalf of a broad community of experts and civil society organisations who are advocating for a green industrial transition in Europe: Beyond Fossil Fuels, CAN Europe, Carbon Market Watch, Ecodes, EEB, E3G, Germanwatch, Natuur&Milieu, WWF European Policy Office, and WWF Italy. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. The total sample size was 6,156 adults (with nationally representative samples of 1,099 in France, 1,095 in Germany, 1,035 in Spain, 1,003 in Italy, 1,007 in the Netherlands and 1,007 in Poland). Fieldwork was undertaken between 6-18 May 2026. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults aged 18+ in each of the six respondent countries. Any figures referring to ‘Europe’ are an average of the results across the six countries included in the survey conducted by YouGov (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain).
