As the reality of climate change gradually hits home, with scientific evidence increasingly providing evidence that man’s actions are having negative repercussions on our climate, the European Union is not only setting targets to reduce carbon emissions, but it is also monitoring people’s knowledge and perceptions about climate change. In Spring 2008 the European Commission and the European Parliament launched a major survey on the European public’s attitude to climate change. Around the same time, the European Commission had issued a set of proposals relating to that and the European Parliament had established its Temporary Committee on Climate Change. This year the European Commission launched a new survey to assess the trends emerging in European public opinion in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009.

According to this latest survey, climate change is still a major concern for the European public but less so with the onset of the economic crisis. In fact, a lower figure of 50% of Europeans said that they still view climate change as a major challenge for the world at this point in time, when compared to last year’s 62% who had expressed concern about climate change. This decrease corresponds directly to the sharp rise recorded, from 24% to 52%, in the number of Europeans who stated that the global recession was their primary concern. The perceptions of Europeans with regard to the gravity of the climate change challenge have also changed one year on and this year only 67% consider climate change to be serious when compared to 75% a year ago. An interesting point is that an increasing number of Europeans see combating climate change as having economic benefits and therefore, despite the current economic crisis, a number of people believe in a ‘green growth’ based on sustainable development.

European public opinion in general is increasingly backing the use of alternative fuels such as biofuels so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and almost 60% of Europeans this year stated that they have taken personal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Only 27%, compared to 26% of Europeans a year ago, consider that the seriousness of climate change has been exaggerated, whilst a constant 31% stated that it is impossible to put a halt to climate change. Europeans’ expectations of the European Parliament, however, are of a more social and economic nature including the coordination of budgetary and fiscal policies and the improvement of consumer protection and public health. The fight against climate change occupied fourth place compared with third place a year ago.

The latest survey shows that climate change remains a key issue for Europeans as they are highly aware of the need to combat it in various ways. On the other hand, with the sudden arrival of a sharp recession, during the last year the attention of Europeans has shifted to economic and social issues, as they saw their countries’ economies contract and unemployment increase sharply. However Europeans also believe that the first steps towards recovery are also taking a green tinge as efforts to combat climate change translate into a greener economy.

Mark Demartino is Information Executive at MEUSAC