Most Europeans still view climate change as the biggest issue facing humanity, even despite an inevitable surge in concern over the threat of epidemics in the wake of Covid-19, a new survey commissioned by Swedish energy giant Vattenfall has found. The UK proved to be an exception, however, with the poll results released yesterday showing Britons harbour greater worries over the risk of disease and pandemics than they do with regards to the growing impacts of climate change.
Conducted by pollster TNS Kantar in late June, the survey quizzed 7,300 adults across seven European countries – Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, France and the UK – on what they considered to be the biggest problem facing the world, with more than 1,000 respondents from the UK. It follows a near identical survey carried out just six months earlier on behalf of Vattenfall in December 2019, which saw a third of UK respondents place climate change as the most serious problem facing the world , placing it ahead of global issues such as war, poverty or the threat of an economic recession.
Taken on average across the seven countries, climate change was ranked as the biggest concern, at 28 per cent, down from 32 per cent in December last year. Epidemics came a close second, at 20 per cent, up from just six per cent last year, with wars and conflict third, falling from 23 per cent to 14 per cent. Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall said the poll findings showed climate change was still top of the agenda for most Europeans, and would embolden the firm in its shift away from fossil fuels from its business to focus on clean energy. “It is clear that our emotions towards climate change remain unchanged even in the wake of a global health crisis,” he said.
Source: Business Green
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