Warming to the climate change agenda

Industry and government should be doing more to fight the effects of global warming. It is not yet too late to reverse the process, and governments, including the European Union, could be setting more-challenging targets for carbon reduction. Those are the conclusions of a survey carried out by Euromonitor across all 27 states of the European Union just three months ago.

They seem to suggest that public opinion is running ahead of political will. Asked about the most serious problems humankind faces globally, 68 per cent opted for poverty and the lack of food and drinking water, but 62 per cent highlighted global warming and climate change. By comparison, concerns about international terrorism (53 per cent), armed conflicts (38 per cent), economic downturn (24 per cent) and the spread of infectious diseases (23 per cent) were all significantly lower.

Looking at individual states, those most concerned about climate change are Cyprus (92 per cent), Greece, (90 per cent) and Slovenia (80 per cent), while those least concerned are the Czech Republic (45 per cent), Italy and Portugal (both 47 per cent). Some 65 per cent of those polled believe the seriousness of climate change has not been exaggerated, but they are predominantly optimistic and a clear majority (60 per cent) disagree with the statement that the process of climate change is unstoppable.

According to 70 per cent of respondents, alternative fuels are an important weapon in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, while 56 per cent believe that fighting climate change can actually have a positive economic effect. Asked about their personal contributions to the fight against climate change, 61 per cent confirm they have taken action. But the most common activities are those that require the least personal and financial effort: waste separation (46 per cent); reducing energy consumption (39 per cent) and water consumption (33 per cent).

A substantial majority of those polled (76 per cent) believe that the corporate sector, national governments and the European Union are not doing enough to combat climate change. This figure is at its lowest in Denmark (24 per cent), Finland (23 per cent) and Germany (22 per cent) where the green agenda has been widely embraced. Unsurprisingly there is no European state where more than four per cent of citizens believe the public- and private-sectors are doing too much.

Europeans Attitudes Twds Climate Change

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