Climate change: Britons are more concerned about the crisis than Covid and Brexit, poll shows
About 40% of those surveyed said climate change, pollution and the environment are their top three concerns. The pandemic is second with 27% and Brexit is third, with 22%. Ipsos MORI interviewed more than 1,000 adults who responded spontaneously and without prompting for response options.
Climate concerns in November were 16 percentage points higher than in October, when people expressed more concern about Brexit, the pandemic and the economy.
The Ipsos MORI poll found that climate concerns are fairly evenly distributed across age groups, genders and political parties.
“[It’s] Gabriela Jiga-Boy, senior lecturer in psychology at Swansea University, told CNN. climate change. This is very important in these times, when we discuss a lot about true or false polarization in matters, and we often exaggerate how polarized people really are. “
Climate is also a top concern for older people
Men and women see the climate crisis as the top issue almost equally, 40% and 41% respectively, the poll found. And supporters of the centre-right Conservative Party and the centre-left Labor Party are equal in their concern for climate issues.
In the age group 55 and older, 47% of people said it was a top problem. For the 35 to 54 age group, the rate is 43%. Among 18- to 34-year-olds, only 27% said so, although that age group was less likely to say they were worried about any particular issue.
Ralitsa Hiteva, a senior research fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School, says that climate change is now a top priority for a majority of groups as the topic “became becoming more and more of a priority”. individual.” The same is true for how policies like the net-zero emissions target can affect them.
Hiteva told CNN in An email.
While concern about the climate crisis is fairly evenly distributed across age groups, support for these types of climate action is more divisive.
“Older adults tend to pay more for investments in infrastructure to improve future generations’ experiences, while 18-25-year-olds are less likely to pay more.” for improvements they won’t experience in their lifetime,” she said. , citing her own research on climate action.
“The only way for this to translate into action is to use the momentum of the moment and get people to re-imagine how infrastructure investments can be designed and used in creative ways that are not only good more for the environment but also more inclusive and equitable.”
