Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | Mar 2016 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 59% | 69% | 45% | 91% | 57% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | 63% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 28% | 18% | 42% | 6% | 35% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | 27% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 13% | 12% | 3% | 9% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% | 10% |
59% (down 4% since March) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 28% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 65%/19% and those aged 55+ split 48%/40%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 64%/23%.
Action on climate change
Q. Which of the following actions on climate change would you most support?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Sep 2014 | Jul 2015 | Sep 2015 | |||
| Incentives for renewable energy | 49% | 50% | 48% | 58% | 54% | 50% | 45% | 45% | ||
| An emissions trading scheme | 13% | 15% | 11% | 24% | 9% | 12% | 14% | 11% | ||
| The Government’s direct action policy | 10% | 10% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 10% | 10% | 10% | ||
| No action required | 12% | 7% | 15% | – | 19% | 11% | 11% | 12% | ||
| Don’t know | 17% | 17% | 13% | 7% | 9% | 17% | 20% | 22% |
In taking action on climate change, 49% most support incentives for renewable energy, 13% most support an emissions trading scheme and 10% most support the Government‘s direct action policy – while 12% say no action is required. This represents little change since this question was asked in September.
All groups are most likely to support incentives for renewable energy.
Climate change policy
Q. The Labor Party recently announced their policy to tackle climate change which includes a target of reducing Australia’s carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 (compared to the Coalition Government’s target of 26-28%) and introducing an emissions trading scheme. Do you approve or disapprove of this policy?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Total approve | 57% | 76% | 36% | 88% | 59% | |
| Total disapprove | 21% | 6% | 44% | 2% | 23% | |
| Strongly approve | 22% | 38% | 8% | 40% | 16% | |
| Approve | 35% | 38% | 28% | 48% | 43% | |
| Disapprove | 10% | 4% | 20% | 1% | 10% | |
| Strongly disapprove | 11% | 2% | 24% | 1% | 13% | |
| Don’t know | 22% | 19% | 20% | 10% | 19% |
57% approve of the Labor Party’s carbon emissions policy and 21% disapprove.
Those more likely to approve were Labor voters (76%), Greens voters (88%) and aged 18-34 (70%).
Those more likely to disapprove were Liberal/National voters (44%) and aged 55+ (39%).
Climate change
Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Nov 2015 | ||||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 63% | 76% | 46% | 94% | 56% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 56% | |||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 27% | 19% | 42% | 3% | 35% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 32% | |||
| Don’t know | 10% | 5% | 12% | 3% | 9% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 12% |
63% (up 7% since November) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 27% (down 5%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. This is the highest recorded agreement that climate change is happening and caused by human activity over the last 7 years.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 70%/18% and those aged 55+ split 48%/46%.
Doing enough to address climate change
As far as you know, do you think Australia is doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | Aug 2015 | |||
| Doing enough | 21% | 16% | 36% | 1% | 19% | 24% | ||
| Not doing enough | 57% | 71% | 38% | 98% | 57% | 53% | ||
| Doing too much | 8% | 5% | 12% | – | 18% | 7% | ||
| Don’t know | 13% | 9% | 14% | 1% | 5% | 16% |
57% (up 4% since August) think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 21% (down 3%) think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not dong enough were aged 18-34 (66%) and university educated (64%).
Climate change
Q. Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
|
Jun 2011 |
Oct 2012 |
Oct 2013 |
Dec 2014 |
Mar 2015 |
Jul 2015 |
|||
|
Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity |
56% |
72% |
42% |
88% |
49% |
|
|
50% |
48% |
52% |
57% |
54% |
56% |
||
|
We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate |
32% |
20% |
48% |
8% |
40% |
|
|
39% |
39% |
36% |
29% |
31% |
31% |
||
|
Don’t know |
12% |
8% |
11% |
4% |
11% |
|
|
12% |
13% |
12% |
14% |
15% |
12% |
56% (no change since July) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 32% (up 1%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 64%/23% and those aged 55+ split 47%/46%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 64%/26%.
Taking action on climate change
Q. When it comes to taking action to address climate change, do you think Australia is doing more or less than the following countries?
|
Climate change caused by human activity |
|||||||||
|
Australia doing more |
Australia doing less |
Doing about the same |
Don’t know |
Australia doing more |
Australia doing less |
Doing about the same |
Don’t know |
||
|
USA |
20% |
29% |
30% |
20% |
22% |
37% |
26% |
15% |
|
|
China |
41% |
21% |
18% |
20% |
41% |
27% |
16% |
15% |
|
|
European countries |
14% |
39% |
25% |
22% |
14% |
50% |
20% |
16% |
|
Respondents were more likely to think Australia was doing more (41%) than China to address climate change but more likely to think both USA (29%) and European countries (39%) are doing more than Australia.
Those who believed climate change is happening and caused by human activity were more likely to think Australia was doing less.
Action on climate change
Q. In your opinion, do world leaders need to act to prevent the world’s population from being impacted by climate change?
|
Total |
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
||
|
Yes, they need to act now, without delay |
49% |
60% |
36% |
83% |
43% |
|
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 12 months |
11% |
14% |
13% |
7% |
8% |
|
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 5 years |
12% |
9% |
16% |
8% |
10% |
|
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 10 years |
5% |
3% |
6% |
– |
7% |
|
|
No, they don’t need to act |
9% |
4% |
15% |
1% |
13% |
|
|
Don’t know |
14% |
9% |
14% |
– |
19% |
60% think that the world leaders need to act on climate change now or in the next 12 months.
Those most likely to support action within the next 12 months were Greens voters (90%) Labor voters (74%), aged under 35 (67%) and university educated (71%).
© Essential Media Communications.
Join EMC on
and
