By Asitha Jayawardena
May 17, 2021, is step three of the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown despite the Indian variant present in the UK.
From early 2020, coronavirus (or Covid-19) has come into play in the world and it is still going on with nowhere to be seen as the end of the pandemic. Meanwhile, climate change is in on the picture but, unlike a pandemic, it affects only a specific area for days or months, like floods, fires or droughts.
In the past seven months, Sustain blog brought forward four posts on surveys on coronavirus and climate change.
70% and 69% from 14 countries say climate change and infectious disease, respectively, a global threat
A staggering 70% said that climate change was a major threat to their country while 69% said the infectious disease was a significant danger to their nation in a survey by the Pew Research Center in October 2020. 14,276 adults took part in 14 economically advanced countries and the surveys were conducted from June 10 to August 3, 2020,
The 14 countries were the United States and Canada (North America), UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark (Europe), Japan and South Korea (Asia) and Australia (Oceania).
For the UK, 71% and 74% are the percentages for climate change and infectious disease, respectively.
October 31, 2020
Both climate change and infectious disease are a major threat, say people from 14 countries
64% in 50 countries say climate change is a global emergency
64% in 50 countries said that climate change was a global emergency in the People’s Climate Vote, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in conjunction with Oxford University. Nearly two-thirds of 1.22 million people from 50 countries participated in this survey between October and December 2020. It was the largest survey on public opinion on climate change on Earth.
The participants from 50 countries, representing 56% of the world’s population, came from the developed countries (e.g., the US, the UK, Russia, Japan, Italy, Australia) and the developing ones (e.g., India, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Morocco).
In the UK as well as Italy, 81% said that climate change is a global emergency.
February 10, 2021
64% say climate change is a global emergency in People’s Climate Vote in 50 countries
69% in 30 countries say that they are aware of the action on climate change
69% of people said that they understand actions to take in tackling climate change in a survey by Ipsos. 21,011 online adults from 30 markets (i.e., countries) participated in this survey from 19 February to 5 March 2021.
The thirty markets (or countries) are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.
In the UK, 71% said that they understood the relevant action concerning climate change.
April 21, 2021
Recycling tops the list in Ipsos climate change survey with 21,000 people in 30 countries
31% in the UK say that they trust the government’s tackling climate change
In the UK, only 31% said that they trusted the UK government’s tackling climate change in a survey organised by YouGov for Sky. In this poll, 54% did not trust the UK Government to come up with the right decisions on tackling climate change. 1705 adults in Great Britain were surveyed across the country with fieldwork carried out on 30 and 31 March 2021.
April 15, 2021
31% trust UK government’s tackling of climate change, YouGov survey for Sky reveals
Is it a good sign for the UK?
Let’s see that the three global surveys, amounting to 14, 50 and 30 countries,
In the survey by the Pew Research Center, 70% from 14 countries said that climate change was a global threat. In the poll by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford University, 64% in 50 countries said that climate change was a global emergency. In the survey by Ipsos, 69% of people from 30 markets (i.e., countries) said that they understood actions to take in tackling climate change.
For the UK, the percentages are 71%, 81% and 71%.
But, surveying only Brits, only 31% in the UK say that they trust the government’s tackling of climate change while 54% oppose it.
In less than six months, the COP26 (or the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) will be held in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November. Is it a good sign that only 31% (less than one in three) believe that the UK government’s tackling of climate change is good?
More…
Many globally are as concerned about climate change as about the spread of infectious diseases
The Peoples’ Climate Vote https://www.undp.org/publications/peoples-climate-vote
Ipsos Perils of Perception: climate change https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/ipsos-perils-perception-climate-change
Climate change: Revealed – how many Britons are unwilling to change their habits to tackle the crisis https://news.sky.com/story/one-in-four-britons-is-unwilling-to-change-key-habits-that-would-help-tackle-climate-crisis-poll-12267928
Sustain 