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Climate change and coronavirus

We asked students in further and higher education their views on climate change and the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
offshore wind turbines

Replicating questions in the nationwide tracker survey - the Energy and Climate Change Public Attitudes tracker - carried out by the UK government (Department of Energy and Climate Change and subsequently Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and from research conducted by Ipsos Mori, just over 1000 students in higher and further education who took part in our research told us:

  • 88% say they are fairly or very concerned about climate change
  • 76% agree that climate change is as serious a crisis as COVID-19 in the long term
  • 51% disagree that the government should focus on economic recovery first and foremost, even if it means taking actions that are bad for the environment
  • 68% agree that it’s important for the government to prioritise climate change in the recovery after coronavirus but…
  • 31% agree that economic recovery should be prioritised even if it leads to negative environmental impacts.

Files:

Student Opinion - Climate change and coronavirus - June 2020