Today, in many countries, politics thrives on outrage and moral grandstanding. People are perceived to be more polarised than ever before and there is some evidence to support this claim. Research in social psychology shows that one key factor for people to get active in politics, but also to be more intolerant of the opposition, is the level of moralisation of opinions. Moralisation means the feeling that people have that an issue is not only relevant or important to them, but is about the fundamental right or wrong in society.

We will present evidence of recent research from the JRC building on representative surveys in the EU about the degree of moralisation of climate change, related policies and how this affects the willingness to engage in solution finding. We will also discuss the foundations of moralisation and how it relates to a diversity of underlying values, where caring about the environment is only one among many values that people care about.

Together with experts and participants, we will build an understanding of diverse perspectives, develop effective communication and discuss how different policy options appeal to different people.