Brussels, 12/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Europeans are highly concerned about climate change and clearly willing to take action against it. A majority of Europeans believe that the European Union's targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and increasing the share of renewable energy by 2020 are about right or even too modest. However, a significant proportion of people feel poorly informed about climate change and ways to help fight it. Such are the main conclusions of a special Eurobarometer survey of public attitudes about climate change commissioned by the European Parliament and the European Commission which was published on Thursday 11 September. These results seem to meet with the satisfaction of many European decision-makers but reveal considerable disparities between member states regarding the gravity of climate change, its irreversibility or otherwise, the degree of knowledge about the problem, and the relevance of the targets that the EU has set itself for combating climate change and the actions implemented by enterprise, industry and the citizens themselves to help fight climate change. Guido Sacconi, who chairs the European Parliament's temporary committee on climate change, said: “The fact that many Europeans say that they do not have enough information, (…), clearly indicates that we have to think about initiatives and measures to spread this knowledge more widely (…). The role of regional and local authorities in this task will be crucial”. Stavros Dimas, for his part, believes the results of this Eurobarometer study show that “a majority of Europeans support the EU's targets or wants us to do even more”. This being so, the European environment commissioner considers “it is essential that the European Parliament and Council approve the Commission's climate and renewable energy proposals from January so Europe will be able to deliver fully on these targets and meet citizens' expectations”.
According to the results of the survey, three quarters of all citizens take climate change very seriously. In total, 62% of respondents consider climate change to be one of the two most serious problems facing the world today. Only poverty scored higher, with 68%. Sixty-five percent of Europeans do not consider severity of climate change has been exaggerated, compared to 26% who feel that this is indeed the case. Slovakians (83%) and Greeks (82%) and Slovenians are those who feel that the severity of global warming has not been exaggerated. The opposite tendency is observed in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, where around 4 respondents out of 10 admit that the severity of this phenomenon has been exaggerated. This opinion also reaches relatively high levels in Belgium (35%) and Denmark (31%). Fifty-five percent of Europeans are also convinced that CO2 emissions have an impact on climate change. Hungarians, Slovakians and Greeks are those who, unlike the British, Dutch and Irish, are convinced that CO2 emissions have only a marginal impact on the phenomenon.
Despite recognition of the seriousness of climate change by a large majority of Europeans, 60% nonetheless believe it is not unstoppable and can be solved, as opposed to one third who say it is inevitable and cannot be solved. In Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Denmark, over 7 citizens out of 10 believe climate change is not unstoppable and fewer than one quarter of citizens support the opposite argument. On the other hand, the largest proportion of citizens who consider climate change to be a process that is impossible to halt are to be found in Estonia, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Romania. Estonia is the only country where an absolute majority of citizens support this opinion. The survey underlines, moreover, that 56% of Europeans believe the fight against climate change can have a positive impact on the economy.
A substantial majority of Europeans consider the EU's targets on greenhouse gases and renewable energy to be about right or too modest. The three targets set by EU leaders last year and to be met by 2020 are: a cut of at least 20% in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels; - a cut of 30% if other developed countries commit to comparable reductions; and an increase in the share of renewable energy to 20%. These targets are judged to be about right or too modest by 68%, 61% and 69% of respondents respectively. However, here too, there are major disparities between member states. While 47% of EU citizens consider these three objectives are what they should be, 74% of the Cypriots and 24% of Bulgarians are of this opinion! Also, 7 Europeans out of 10 believe that alternative fuels must be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Greece, Denmark and Sweden, but also in Slovakia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Cyprus, over 8 citizens out of 10 feel that fuels of this kind must be used, while in Germany and Luxembourg, 40% and 31% respectively disagree with the fact that these fuels should be used to reduce greenhouse gases.
More than half of the Europeans sampled feel informed about the causes (56%) and consequences (56%) of climate change, and of the ways to fight it (52%). However, the proportion of citizens who feel poorly informed about the subject remains significant at more than four in ten. Lack of information is mentioned as an important reason for not taking action to combat climate change. Citizens in the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland and Denmark) and the Netherlands feel better informed on the issue. The level of information perceived by citizens on these subjects is also relatively high in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, while the lowest levels of information are noted among the Bulgarians, Romanians, Portuguese and Lithuanians, as well as Czechs and Turks. In these countries, over six respondents out of ten say they are ill-informed of the causes and of the ways to combat climate change.
Europeans also think that not enough is being done to combat climate change by corporations and industry (76%), citizens themselves (67%), their national governments (64%) and the EU (58%). Public opinion is relatively consistent in the countries sampled on the role of large corporations and industry in combating climate change: in all countries, most respondents think that large companies and industry are not doing enough to combat the problem. This is most strongly expressed in Greece and Slovenia where over nine respondents out of ten believe these actors are not currently doing enough (the EU average is 76%).
Finally, a clear majority (61%) of those taking part in the survey say they have taken action of some sort to combat climate change. Absolute majorities in all countries surveyed consider citizens are not doing enough to counter the problem. While this opinion is shared by two-thirds of Europeans on average (67%), it is upheld by 88% of Latvians and 86% of Hungarians and Slovenians. On the other hand, 41% of respondents in Germany, 31% of citizens in Luxembourg and 30% of the British polled think that the citizens themselves are doing what they can to combat climate change. Nonetheless, types of action taken mainly involve little personal or financial effort such as separating waste or reducing consumption of energy, water or throw-away products. The main reason cited by respondents for not taking action against climate change is that they think governments, companies and industries should change their behaviour. Some 44% of those polled say they would be prepared to pay more for energy produced from sources that emit less greenhouse gases while 30% would not (26% did not give their opinion). (O.L./transl.jl)