Objective This study investigates, from a cross‐national perspective, the determinants of public willingness to make economic sacrifices for environmental protection. Departing from the argument that corrupt institutions diminish the potential for social cooperation, it argues that earlier studies fail to stress the effect of corruption and political trust on people's attitudes. Methods A multilevel regression analysis is performed using data from the International Social Survey Programme. Results The study shows that the willingness to make economic sacrifices for environmental protection is affected by individual political trust while it is hard to actually disentangle any contextual effects of corruption from other contextual effects. Conclusion Acknowledging the effects of political trust and corruption improves the discussion on country differences in willingness to make economic sacrifices for environmental protection.