The Spanish are among the Europeans most concerned about climate change

Spanish citizens are among the Europeans most concerned about climate change, according to data from a Eurobarometer published on Wednesday by the European Commission that shows that almost nine out of ten respondents in Spain consider that it is an “extremely serious” problem.

Specifically, 89% of Spanish citizens consulted in this survey rate climate change in this way, a percentage that is only higher in Malta (92%) and Greece (90%). By contrast, Latvia and Estonia (59%) and Romania (66%) recorded the lowest rates. The European average stands at 79%.

The survey data also show that 18% of Spaniards consider climate change to be the most important problem worldwide, five points more than in the study carried out in 2017, although in this case it is a percentage lower than the EU average, of 23%.

In the opinion of Spanish citizens, national governments are the main responsible in the fight against climate change (55%), followed by companies and industry (52%), the European Union (48%) and personal actions (36%).

In this sense, 79% of Spanish respondents claim to have taken measures to combat climate change in the last six months, a proportion that is almost twenty points higher than the European average (60%).

The most cited actions in this area by Spaniards are to reduce their waste and separate it to promote recycling (84%), reduce the consumption of single-use items such as plastic bags (59%), take into account the energy consumption of household appliances in their purchasing decisions (38%) or use ecological alternatives to the use of the private car (31%).

68% of Spanish respondents completely agree with giving more public support to the transition to clean energy even if this means reducing fossil fuel subsidies, while 55% think that adapting to the negative consequences of climate change can have positive results.

A large majority of Spaniards – 95% – consider it important that the Government establishes objectives to increase the proportion of energy from renewable sources by 2030 and 92% believe they are in favor of giving aid to improve energy efficiency that same year.

Finally, 95% of Spaniards consulted share the opinion that the EU should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and compensate for the rest so that the bloc reaches climate neutrality in 2050.

To prepare this Eurobarometer, 1,011 people were interviewed in Spain between 10 and 23 April this year. The total number of interviews in all Member States amounted to 27,655.

Source: The Vanguard