Europeans’ attitudes towards climate change

Based on recent Eurobarometer-surveydata we look at how problematic Europeans consider climate change, who they consider responsible to tackle it, how they judge the role of their government, and whether a policy-focus on individual behaviour against climate change is harmfull.

Maarten Hermans https://mhermans.net (Denktank Minerva)https://www.denktankminerva.be/
2021-10-29

Research note summary

In this research note we analyze the results of the recent (March - April 2021) Eurobarometer-survey on Europeans’ attitudes and behavior with relation to climate change. We provide graphics and numbers for the following findings:

Firstly, there is a great sense of urgency about climate change among European citizens.

Second, European citizens expect more action from their governments on tackling climate change.

Third, we see very strong support among the European population to prioritize or even shift public investment towards sources of clean energy.

Fourth, the survey raises questions on who Europeans adapt their individual and consumption choices in response to climate change.

In the fifth section, specific numbers for Belgium can be found.

We therefore conclude that Europeans are highly concerned with the problem of climate change. They demand action from their governments to tackle this problem. Such action should lie with shifts in investment from fossil fuel to green sectors. Policies with a strong focus on changing individual (consumption) behavior to tackle climate change, are not very likely to succeed. In addition, they risk to increase inequalities by rewarding those who are socioeconomically better placed to change their consumption choices.

Altogether, the data stress the need for structural government action and collective measures to tackle the climate crisis. From these analyses, it also becomes very clear how deeply social and climate justice are intertwined, thus stressing the need for a socially just transition.

The climate change problem

When Europeans are presented with a list of societal issues and asked which they consider to be the single most serious problem facing the world as a whole, they put forward climate change as the most serious problem (Table 1). A slightly smaller percentage of Europeans points towards the spread of infectious diseases as the most serious problem, which is very likely due to the survey taking place (March-April 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With on average 17,5% indicating that climate change is the most serious problem, European’s concern with climate change dwarfs their concern with other transnational issues such as armed conflict (4,4%), terrorism (3,9%), and nuclear weapons (1,8%).

Europeans consider climate change the most serious problem facing the world
Table 1: Percentage of Europeans selecting the specific issue as the most serious problem facing the world.
World issue Percentage
Climate change 17.5%
Spread of infectious diseases 16.8%
Poverty, hunger and lack of drinking water 16.6%
The economic situation 14.5%
Deterioration of democracy and rule of law 7.0%
Deterioration of nature 6.6%
The increasing global population 5.7%
Health problems due to pollution 4.5%
Armed conflicts 4.4%
International terrorism 3.9%
Proliferation of nuclear weapons 1.8%
Other / None / DK 0.6%
Source: Eurobarometer 95.1, survey-period March 2021 - April 2021. Question: "Which of the following do you consider to be the single most serious problem facing the world as a whole?".

Behind this average, significant differences between member states, social and age groups can be uncovered. Sweden (43,1%), Denmark (35,2%) and The Netherlands (34,2%) show the highest percentage of citizens considering climate change as the world problem . In Italy, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, this percentage is less then 10%. In these countries, issues such as the spread of infectious diseases, the economic situation, poverty, hunger and lack of drinking water, or the economic situation, are selected by a larger percentage of the population, likely reflecting national experiences with COVID-19 or economic conditions.

There are also clear differences by social class, educational level, age, and financial security. Those that are upper (middle) class, longer educated, younger and with less issues paying bills over the last 12 months, more frequently select climate change as the single most important problem facing the world. (Table 2).

Interestingly, these differences largely disappear when we look at the second question, where respondents are no longer forced to make a trade-off between climate change and other problems such as COVID, poverty and the economic situation. When asked to rate how serious a problem climate change is at this moment on a scale from 1 to 10, with ‘1’ meaning it is “not at all a serious problem” and ‘10’ meaning it is “an extremely serious problem” (cf. Figure 1, the degree in which climate change is considered an extremely serious problem barely differs over national and socioeconomic subgroups from an overall average of approximately 8 out of 10.

Response distribution of Europeans' rating of climate change as a problem.

Figure 1: Response distribution of Europeans’ rating of climate change as a problem.

Social background influences the priority given to the issue of climate change, but not the assesment of how problematic it is
Table 2: Percentage of Europeans selecting the specific issue as the most serious problem facing the world.
% selecting climate change as most serious world problem Average rating how serious the climate change problem is [1-10]
Social class
Higher and upper middle class 29.2% 8.1
Middle class 18.0% 8.0
Lower middle class 16.1% 7.9
Working class 12.0% 7.8
Education
Tertiary 26.4% 8.2
Post-secondary / short-cycle tertiary 19.3% 7.9
Secondary 13.7% 7.9
No or (pre-)primary 9.7% 7.7
Age
15-24 21.9% 8.2
25-39 18.6% 8.0
40-54 16.5% 7.8
55-98 16.2% 7.9
Issues paying bills
Almost never/never 20.3% 8.0
From time to time 12.2% 7.9
Most of the time 9.2% 8.0
Urbanisation
Large town 18.6% 8.0
Rural area or village 17.3% 7.8
Small/middle town 17.0% 8.0
Source: Eurobarometer 95.1, survey-period March 2021 - April 2021. Questions: "Which of the following do you consider to be the single most serious problem facing the world as a whole?" and "How serious a problem do you think climate change is at this moment? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 meaning it is "not at all a serious problem" and 10 meaning it is "an extremely serious problem".".

This is illustrated in Figure 2, which shows how the lower percentage of Europeans outside of the upper and higher middle class indicating that climate change is the primary issue facing the world is mainly caused by the higher proportion of those groups worrying about COVID-19, poverty, and the economic situation.

Social class differences in the ranking of work issues as the priority.

Figure 2: Social class differences in the ranking of work issues as the priority.

This observation again stresses the need for a just climate transition. If policy initiatives are strongly focused on the ecological component of climate change, while at the same time substantial proportions of the European population have the impression that their primary concerns are not heard by by national or European governments, this might lead to a more muted level of support for climate action.

It also indicates that insufficient attention for social justice in climate policy risks to be exploited by political forces trying to slow down effective climate action. Presenting climate change as solely or mainly a concern of higher class or higher educated groups, they can mobilize those citizens who are primarily concerned with their basic economic needs.

Strong call for government action

When asked who is responsible for tackling climate change, the majority of Europeans look towards three actors: their national government, businesses and industry, and the European Union (Table 3). The option of taking individual action personally against climate change is clearly less prioritized.

Who is responsible for tackling climate change?
Table 3: Percentage of Europeans selecting the specific actor as responsible for tackling climate change.
Actor Percentage
National governments 63.4%
Business / Industry 55.4%
European Union 54.4%
Regional / Local Authorities 38.1%
You personally 37.1%
Environmental Groups 27.3%
All / None / DK / Other 0.7%
Source: Eurobarometer 95.1, survey-period March 2021 - April 2021. Question: "In your opinion, who within the EU is responsible for tackling climate change?" (multiple answers possible).

Of those three actors, the survey only asked respondents whether the national government and the European Union are doing enough to tackle climate change. Europeans’ judgment is very clear: three in four say that their government is not doing enough against climate change (Figure 3).

This proportion is overall very similar across age groups, with a slightly higher percentage for younger Europeans. Whereas youth protests and school strikes for climate might give the impression that demands for government action on climate change are strongly concentrated among the youngest groups of Europeans, the survey shows that this is not the case. These forms of action may be more popular or more easily available to younger Europeans, but the demand for government action is comparable among older age groups.

Respondents judgement how much their national government is doing to tackle climate change.

Figure 3: Respondents judgement how much their national government is doing to tackle climate change.

Country by country differences seem slightly more relevant. Finland (34,3%) is the only country where the share of citizens saying that their government is not enough is below 50% (Figure 4). Whereas for Austria (53,8%) and Denmark (55,6%) slightly more than a majority of citizens reports dissatisfaction with government action, the numbers are over 80% in Croatia (88,7%), Portugal (85,1%) and Italy (83,8%).