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The relationship between the youth-led Fridays for Future climate movement and voting, politician and media behaviour in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Fabel

    (ottonova)

  • Matthias Flückiger

    (University of York)

  • Markus Ludwig

    (TU Braunschweig
    CESifo)

  • Helmut Rainer

    (CESifo
    University of Munich
    ifo Institute)

  • Maria Waldinger

    (CESifo
    ifo Institute)

  • Sebastian Wichert

    (CESifo
    University of Munich, ifo Institute)

Abstract

We study the relationship between the Fridays for Future climate protest movement in Germany and citizen political behaviour. In 2019, crowds of young protesters, mostly under voting age, demanded immediate climate action. Exploiting cell-phone-based mobility data and hand-collected information on nearly 4,000 climate protests, we created a highly disaggregated measure of protest participation. Using this measure, we show that Green Party vote shares increased more in counties with higher protest participation (n = 960). To address the possibility of non-random protest participation, we used various empirical strategies. When we examined mechanisms, we found evidence for three relevant factors: reverse intergenerational transmission of pro-environmental attitudes from children to parents (n = 76,563), stronger climate-related social media presence by Green Party politicians (n = 197,830) and increased local media coverage of environmental issues (n = 47,060). Our findings suggest that youth protests may initiate the societal change needed to overcome the climate crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Fabel & Matthias Flückiger & Markus Ludwig & Helmut Rainer & Maria Waldinger & Sebastian Wichert, 2025. "The relationship between the youth-led Fridays for Future climate movement and voting, politician and media behaviour in Germany," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 9(3), pages 481-495, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:9:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1038_s41562-024-02075-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02075-4
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