Policy Focus

EU citizens ill-informed about climate change, survey finds

The commission has come under fire in the wake of a major new survey showing that four out of five Europeans believe they are “ill-informed” about the causes and consequences of climate change.

Lack of information was cited as an important reason for not taking action to combat the problem.

Italian Socialist MEP Guido Sacconi, chair of parliament’s temporary committee on climate change, branded the findings of the Eurobarometer poll “something of an indictment” of the executive’s much-vaunted communications strategy.

But commission vice president Margot Wallström, in charge of communications policy, hit back, saying, “There is a limit to what we can do.”

Sacconi’s remarks came after a news conference in parliament on Thursday unveiled the survey, in which 30,000 EU citizens in each member state were questioned on what they knew about climate change.

The survey, the first conducted by both the commission and parliament, found that four in ten of those quizzed felt they were “poorly informed” about the issue of climate change.

An even higher figure, 58 per cent, thought that the EU was not doing enough to tackle the problem.

Sacconi’s concern was echoed by EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas who, speaking at the same event, described the relative lack of public awareness as “really disappointing”.

Wallström admitted that the number of people who felt ill-informed represented an important minority of public opinion and said more had to be done to tackle the problem.

But she said the commission had already taken several measures to increase public awareness and encourage citizens to conserve energy.

She said, “There is always room for improvement and these findings do represent an important challenge for the EU in general. The message about climate change and its consequences has to be focused.

“Clearly, EU policies on related issues like lifestyle and energy consumption need to be properly understood by the public.”

The survey, which cost €240,000, also found that 61 per cent of those questioned are willing to take action to mitigate the impact of global warming – 28 per cent said they had switched to more green-friendly modes of transport, while 18 per cent had bought a less polluting car.

Some 56 per cent said they felt the fight against climate change can have a positive effect on the economy, while some 44 per cent said they would be prepared to pay more for so-called green energy.

Most of those who felt “ill-informed” blamed either industry, the EU or governments for their lack of awareness.

Turning to climate change sceptics, the survey found that 20 per cent “quite agreed” that its potential impact had been overstated.

However, Dimas said that those who still doubted the existence of global warming, or that it was caused in part by human activity, were now a “rare species”.

“Even President Bush has come to accept that global warming is happening,” he said.

“The message from this survey is that a majority of Europeans supports the EU’s targets or wants us to do even more, and that is why it is essential that parliament and council approve our climate change package.”