Irish think global warming is a serious threat and necessary actions are not being taken by governments.

1. Overwhelming majority of Irish (85%) believe global warming is a threat for mankind.
2. Over 1 in 3 also think it is too late to curtail the climate change, with this returning to pre-pandemic levels of agreement.
3. Only 1 in 3 (36%) agree governments are taking necessary measures to protect the environment.

WIN International, the world’s leading global association in market research and polling (with RED C as the member in Ireland), has published the Annual WIN World Survey – WWS 2022 – exploring the views and beliefs of 29,739 individuals among citizens from 36 countries across the globe.

The survey analyses views and opinions related to the perception of climate change in 2022 and the importance of sustainable development worldwide.

HEADLINES – IRELAND

Global Warming

1. Vast majority of Irish (85%) continue to think that global warming is a threat to mankind. However, the perception weakens year on year since 2020.
2. There is a significant decline in lower social grades (-4%) & those in the Conn/Ulster region (-8%) in seeing global warming as a hazard.
3. Global warming is seen as a major threat around the world (83%), with Irish perceptions in line with the global average. However, the world’s largest economy, the United States, sits at the bottom (70%) with its view on the level of threat that global warming poses to mankind.

It is too late to curtail climate change

1. Over 1 in 3 in Ireland think that it is already too late to curtail climate change. The opinion is getting stronger each year and is significantly higher than 2020 (+11%), with this bringing views back on par with 2019 – just prior to the pandemic.
2. Those aged 18–34-year-old hold more cynical views unfortunately, with just about half of them agreeing that is too late to restrain climate change.
3. The agreement increases YoY among males (+6%), those aged 55+ (+5%), lower social grades (+6%) & those residing in Munster (+6%).
4. Irish outlook is still weaker than global average (-6%).

 Governments taking necessary action to take care of environment

1. Only a minority feel that governments are doing enough to act on the climate change crisis. The Irish believe that more can be done by governments on such an important matter.
2. Those aged 18–34 are the least likely (28%) to think that governments are taking actions towards environment protection.
3. The Irish perception is weaker than the global average (-3%) on government taking necessary action to take care of the environment.

Richard Colwell, CEO of RED C Research and Vice-President of WIN International Association, said:

“It is clear that most worldwide consider climate change a worry, but there is rising concern among Irish adults that it is too late to do anything about it, and also strong believe that the government isn’t doing enough.  Generally we have seen from other work that people feel acting on climate change has to come from business and government, and the more they feel its too late, the less likely they are to change their own individual behaviour.  Education is needed to help encourage individuals that they still can make a difference”

HEADLINES

1. While the vast majority of people in every country agrees on considering global warming a serious threat for mankind, the share slightly decreased compared to previous waves. In 2022, 83% of citizens agree or somewhat agree with global warming being a serious threat for mankind, -3% vs. 2021 (86%) and -2% vs. 2020 (85%). Women believe global warming is a serious threat to mankind more so than men (86% vs. 81% respectively). Regarding the countries, United States (24%) and Poland (21%) have the highest percentage of population that does not consider global warming a serious threat for the humanity.

2. Individuals’ perception of whether something can still be done to stop global warming varies from very optimistic to very pessimistic. For 45% of the respondents, it is already too late to be able to do anything about climate change, a share that slightly increased compared to previous years, meaning the population is getting more pessimistic about it (2021: 43%; 2020: 40%).Africa and Americas are the world regions where people believe to a greater extent that something can still be done to curtail climate change (60% and 54% respectively believe it is not too late), whereas citizens in Middle East region are the most pessimistic (only 41% believes it is not too late). Kenyans stand out as the most optimistic, with 87% of respondents considering that it is not too late to curtail climate change, in contrast with Philippians (23%), Indians (28%) and Italians (40%), who are the least optimistic.

3. Additionally, 55% of the respondents feel that governments are not taking the necessary actions to take care of the environment (higher than 2021, which was 51%). It is noteworthy that 62% of the respondents from the APAC region consider that their government is taking the necessary measures to care for the environment, in contrast to the rest of the world. Kenya, Paraguay and Croatia stand out as the countries that consider that their governments are not doing much to take care of the environment.

Vilma Scarpino, President of WIN International Association, said:

‘This year for the first time a new section on main global concern was introduced: citizens’ top two concerns are their household economic situation and their country’s economic situation, concerns probably fostered by the pandemic and the financial instabilities. Among other concerns, we also find those who worry about the environment: the WIN World Survey has been tracking opinions on climate change since three years by now, and results keep being essential to understand citizens’ perception on the global situation. Citizens in every country are becoming more pessimistic on whether there is still time to fight climate change and, at the same time, they’re increasingly more acknowledging that their governments are not doing much to protect the environment. Governments and Institutions should leverage on the wide agreement that global warming is a threat to mankind and use this common ground to find global solutions.’

-ENDS-

Media enquiries:

IRELAND DATA

Richard Colwell, C.E.O., RED C Research

Derek Bell, Associate Director, RED C Research

+35318186316

[email protected]

WORLDWIDE DATA

Elena Crosilla, WIN Coordinator

+39 335.62.07.347

E-mail: [email protected]

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Methodology:

The survey was conducted in 36 countries using CAWI / CATI / F2F/ TAPI /online survey methods.

Sample Size and Mode of Field Work:

A total of 29,739 people were interviewed. See below for sample details. The fieldwork was conducted during October 9th and December 10th, 2022. The margin of error for the survey is between 4.4 and 2.5 at 95% confidence level.

The global average has been computed according to the covered adult population of the surveyed countries.

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