Essential Report
Addressing climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
Jan’21 | Jan’20 | Nov’19 | Mar’19 | Dec’18 | Oct’18 | Sep’17 | Aug’16 | |
Not doing enough | 42% | 62% | 60% | 51% | 53% | 56% | 56% | 52% |
Doing enough | 35% | 19% | 22% | 27% | 24% | 23% | 20% | 22% |
Doing too much | 10% | 8% | 8% | 11% | 9% | 7% | 8% | 8% |
Don’t know | 13% | 11% | 10% | 12% | 14% | 13% | 16% | 18% |
Base (n) | 1,084 | 1,081 | 1,083 | 1,089 | 1,032 | 1,027 | 1,011 | 1,022 |
- Over a third (35%) of people think Australia is doing enough to address climate change, the highest proportion in the last five years.
- 42% still think not enough is being done, however this is a significant drop from last year (62%) and the years before.
- 10% think Australia is doing too much to address climate change and 13% don’t know. Both figures are similar to previous years.
Total | Gender | Age Group | Federal Voting Intention | |||||||||
Male | Female | 18-34 | 35-54 | 55+ | Labor | TOTAL: Coalition | Greens | TOTAL: Other | ||||
Not doing enough | 42% | 36% | 48% | 40% | 41% | 45% | 56% | 28% | 69% | 39% | ||
Doing enough | 35% | 38% | 33% | 33% | 34% | 39% | 29% | 52% | 17% | 28% | ||
Doing too much | 10% | 15% | 4% | 9% | 13% | 7% | 6% | 12% | 7% | 21% | ||
Don’t know | 13% | 11% | 15% | 17% | 12% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 12% | ||
Base (n) | 1,084 | 539 | 545 | 341 | 358 | 385 | 334 | 431 | 118 | 106 | ||
- Greens voters are the most likely to think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change (69%), followed by Labor voters (56%).
- Compared to other voters, Coalition voters are the most likely to think enough is being done (52%), and those voting for minor and independent parties are the most likely to think Australia is doing too much for climate change (21%).
- Women are more likely to think not enough is being done to address climate change than men (48% to 36% respectively).

COVID-19 RESEARCH
Read Essential's ongoing research on the public response to Covid-19.
Essential Report
In this week's report:
- Performance of Scott Morrison
- Performance of Anthony Albanese
- Preferred Prime Minister
- Views towards re-electing the federal Coalition government
- Party trust to handle issues
- Importance of Australia’s international reputation
- Scott Morrison’s impact on Australia’s international reputation
- Views towards Australia’s international reputation
Sign up for updates
Receive the Essential Report in your inbox.Essential Tags
2PP
Abbott
ALP
Anthony Albanese
Approval of opposition leader
Approval of Tony Abbott
asylum seekers
Australian economy
Bill Shorten
Carbon Tax
climate change
coronavirus
covid-19
economy
Education
Election
EMC
environment
ER
Essential Media
Essential Report
Federal Budget
Federal Government
federal politics
Gillard
Greens
Julia Gillard
kevin rudd
Labor
Labor Party
Liberal
Liberal Party
Liberals
mining
Nationals
Opposition leader
peter lewis
Polling
polls
Prime Minister
Scott Morrison
tony abbott
two party preferred
voting
Voting intention
Recent Comments
