Despite the British having many concerns about the environment, mobilisation to fight climate change is not growing

In the year that the UK hosted COP26 in Glasgow, the British take a very severe view of the current status of the environment in their country with 65% of the population claiming to be worried about the issue. In particular, extreme climate events are an increasing concern (49%, up 3pts compared to 2020) and it follows that a small majority think that priority should be given to the environment rather than economic growth (51%), despite the cost of living ranking as the top concern among the UK population.

With fighting climate change a priority for the British, at least in terms of attitudes, focus turns to who should act and what measures are most acceptable to the UK population. EDF’s new, broad scope opinion study, conducted by Ipsos, reveals why citizen mobilisation is in fact not growing as many may expect.

Every year, EDF publishes an international status report on opinions, knowledge, expectations and levels of engagement in relation to climate change. Below you can find the UK report, an Infographic, and a link to the full study of 30 countries across 5 continents which covers two-thirds of the world’s population and features the biggest CO2 producers.

The findings are freely accessible at www.edf.fr