I propose a model of environmental policymaking with electoral accountability in which voters learn about politicians’ policy preferences and environmental policies’ appropriateness by observing past policy choices and outcomes. Compared to an entrenched benevolent policymaker benchmark, I show that reelection concerns can lead to policy distortions, as a result of the interdependence between voters’ learning about policies and their induced preferences over politicians: when favourable policy outcomes lead voters to prefer policy persistence, the desire to appear likely to implement the policy voters will prefer prior to the election can stifle the implementation of the ex-ante optimal environmental policy.