Climate change: Who cares, and whose problem is it? Spanish public responds

YOUNGER adults are less concerned about climate change than older adults, and people in Spain are more likely to say they are feeling the effects of global warming than anywhere else in Europe, making them more conscious of taking action to prevent its worsening.

The latest survey by the DYM Institute found that 85% of respondents in Spain consider climate change to be 'a serious threat to humanity' – a figure that rises to 88% in the over-55s and 90% in the over-65s.

Women are also more likely to be concerned than men, the research found. 

Those aged 25 to 34 are more concerned than they were two years ago – up from 81% to 86% - as are those aged from 35 to 44, albeit with a marginally smaller increase, from 82% to 84%.

By contrast, 78% of the 18-24 age group believe global warming to be a major worry.

Across the board, 81% believe natural disasters reported worldwide, such as storms and floods, to be a consequence of climate change.

Not too late, but the onus is on the individual

Despite acknowledging global warming to be a serious issue, Spanish respondents are generally optimistic about the long-term situation – older adults more so than younger adults.

Overall, 61% do not believe it is too late to halt the process or slow it down significantly – among the over-65s, this rises to 71%, whilst just over half of respondents aged from 25 to 34 held this view, and only 44% of the 18-24 group believed concerted efforts all round could avert a climate disaster.

Concerning who is responsible for taking action to slow down climate change, older adults placed the onus more on the individual, whilst younger adults believed governments should be taking the most action.

Over 80% of those aged 45 or more believed that personal behaviour was key in the battle against global warming, compared with only two-thirds of adults aged under 25.

Despite this, it was the youngest age group which admitted it would be more willing to pay higher prices for 'eco-friendly' goods – 68% would shell out more if they knew a product was healthier for the planet, or would not mind prices in general going up in order to adopt 'greener' practices.

Those aged from 55 to 64 inclusive were less inclined to want to pay more – only 51% said they would – and among the over-65s, a total of 59% would be willing to spend more if it meant they were getting 'eco-friendly' products.

Perhaps the greater reluctance among older adults is because they believe that 'eco-friendly' should be the norm, or the only permitted practices; or perhaps they suspected that if 'greener' goods carried a higher price tag, it would act as a deterrent and lead to less-environmentally health products becoming the most popular.

In the past two years, the number of respondents who think it is too late to stop or slow down the process of climate change has risen from 28% to 35%, but the number who believe it is up to the individual to take action to address the problem has fallen from 86% to 81%.

The remainder believe governments and companies should be the ones to halt global warming.

Governments and companies 'are not doing enough'

Even with such a huge sense of personal responsibility, the majority still believe big corporations and national authorities ought to be doing their bit and that without their input, it will not be possible to prevent global temperatures rising to catastrophic levels. 

In total, 71% feel governments and firms have a duty to take action, rising to 83% among adults aged under 25, but falling to 66% among those aged from 45 to 54.

Every age group found both corporations and governments were making poor efforts – the ones who had most faith in large institutions were the youngest adults, with 40% giving their seal of approval, well above the average of 34.7%.

Those who stated they did not believe political leaders and businesses were, in general, doing their bit were more likely to be female – of the average of 61% of all respondents, a total of 62.4% of females held this view, and the age group which most believed this was those from 45 to 54, in which 65% gave a 'could do better' verdict.

Elsewhere in the world: Brazil's optimistic, Croatia isn't happy with government efforts, and Vietnam and Indonesia are most aware of the threat

Surveys have been conducted around the world ahead of International Climate Day – which is Sunday, June 5 – and found that people living in the countries and continents most likely to be adversely affected by global warming had the most pessimistic views.

In Africa, 87% of respondents, and in the Americas, 89%, considered global warming to be a 'serious threat to humanity' – a sentiment that soared to 94% in Paraguay and Perú.

But the two countries whose populations were the most concerned were in Asia – Vietnam and Indonesia, with 96% recognising the threat.

Europe and the Americas were the least likely to believe it was too late to halt climate change – 55% and 57% respectively thought there was still time – compared with 48% in the near east and 49% in the Asia-Pacific region.

The countries most optimistic about being able to slow or stop the process were Brazil (70%), México (67%), and Denmark (66%), whilst the most pessimistic were China (38%), Pakistan (34%) and India (31%).

Over half the countries where surveys were conducted said their governments were not taking sufficient action, with the strongest criticism coming from the Americas and Europe.

Croatia (83%), Greece (74%), Finland (73%), Serbia and Paraguay (both 72%) had the highest numbers of respondents who thought their national authorities were falling short of their climate responsibilities.

Despite being the parts of the planet whose inhabitants most recognised the threat to the human race of climate change, the countries with the greatest faith in their governments' actions were Vietnam, with only 4% thinking national authorities were failing; Indonesia, where just 8% said government measures and plans were insufficient, and The Philippines, where 12% were disillusioned with political institutions' approach to halting climate change.