The results of the latest Eurobarometer study on climate change clearly show that the Maltese need to be more informed and educated about the seriousness of the issue and what can be done to fight it.

The Eurobarometer, which was published yesterday, presented the results of a survey on Europeans’ attitudes towards climate change. The survey was carried out in spring 2008.

According to the report, 50 per cent of Maltese respondents said they were informed about the different consequences of climate change, while 47 per cent said they were not.

Another 47 per cent said that they were informed about the causes of climate change – a result that is lower than the EU average of 56 per cent.

According to the Maltese respondents, spreading of an infectious disease is the most serious problem and not climate change. In fact, only 64 per cent of Maltese correspondents said that climate change is the most serious problem in the world and Malta ranked 15th out of the 27 EU member states with Cyprus in the first place with 92 per cent.

Armed conflicts are perceived as especially serious problems in Slovakia and the

Netherlands, while a major global economic downturn is cited in particular by

the Irish and the Greeks.

At least 25 per cent of Maltese respondents said replied that they “don’t know” whether alternative fuels can be used to reduce greenhouse gases.

A very different situation exists in Germany (40 per cent) and Luxembourg (31 per cent), where relatively large proportions of respondents disagree that such fuels should be used for this purpose.

It also seems that respondents in some countries are not familiar enough with the topic to give their opinion. However, 25 per cent of Maltese respondents, along with Spain (24 per cent), Romania and Bulgaria (both 23 per cent), as well as in Turkey (41 per cent) replied “don’t know”.

A majority of Europeans (60 per cent) disagree with the statement that climate change is an unstoppable process, while less than a third do think that there is nothing that can be done about climate change. Another nine per cent say that they do not know.

The Maltese seem to be very optimistic as only 19 per cent said that nothing can be done to stop climate change, while another 85 per cent of those who said they have taken personal action to fight climate change did so because they think that it is their duty as a citizen.

However, it seems that it is not clear how they are going to go about it as 30 per cent said replied that they did not know if CO2 emissions have a marginal impact on climate change.

The proportion of Dutch respondents so believing (47 per cent) is almost the same as those believing the reverse (46 per cent). Public opinion in Estonia, Ireland and the United Kingdom also appears to be strongly divided.

The “don’t know” rates are particularly high in Romania (33 per cent), Malta (30 per cent), Spain (29 per cent) and Turkey (44 per cent).