Doing enough to address climate change
Q. 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 | ||
| Doing enough | 24% | 16% | 42% | 4% | 16% | |
| Not doing enough | 53% | 69% | 35% | 91% | 61% | |
| Doing too much | 7% | 4% | 8% | 3% | 13% | |
| Don’t know | 16% | 11% | 16% | 3% | 10% |
53% think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change and 24% think Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not dong enough were aged 18-34 (63%) and university educated (62%).
Biggest threats to the world
Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to the world? And which is the second biggest threat?
| Total | Biggest threat | Second biggest threat | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Terrorism | 61% | 43% | 18% | 61% | 71% | 35% | 57% | |
| Global economic instability | 51% | 23% | 28% | 50% | 52% | 50% | 54% | |
| Climate change | 38% | 21% | 17% | 47% | 21% | 68% | 36% | |
| Fighting in the Middle East | 23% | 6% | 17% | 17% | 27% | 21% | 29% | |
| Chinese economic slowdown | 12% | 4% | 8% | 12% | 13% | 4% | 12% | |
| Tensions between Russia and its neighbours | 8% | 2% | 6% | 6% | 10% | 8% | 9% | |
| Tensions between China and its neighbours | 7% | 1% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 14% | 3% |
61% think that terrorism is one of the two biggest threats to the world and 51% nominated global economic instability as one of the biggest threats.
38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.
Labor and Liberal/National voters nominated terrorism and global economic instability as the biggest threats while Greens voters were more likely to think climate change was a bigger threat (68%). Only 21% of Liberal/National voters think climate change is one of the two biggest threats.
Biggest threats to Australia
Q. Which of the following international issues represents the biggest threat to Australia? And which is the second biggest threat?
| Total | Biggest threat | Second biggest threat | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote Other | ||
| Global economic instability | 55% | 25% | 30% | 51% | 58% | 59% | 55% | |
| Terrorism | 47% | 26% | 21% | 48% | 54% | 21% | 46% | |
| Climate change | 38% | 22% | 16% | 47% | 18% | 72% | 31% | |
| Chinese economic slowdown | 36% | 20% | 16% | 31% | 44% | 27% | 36% | |
| Fighting in the Middle East | 12% | 3% | 9% | 10% | 13% | 9% | 15% | |
| Tensions between China and its neighbours | 9% | 4% | 5% | 11% | 8% | 8% | 13% | |
| Tensions between Russia and its neighbours | 3% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 5% |
55% think that global economic instability is one of the two biggest threats to Australia and 47% nominated terrorism as one of the biggest threats.
38% think climate change is one of the two biggest threats and 36% nominated the Chinese economic slowdown.
Labor voters think global economic instability, terrorism and climate change represent similar levels of threat while Liberal/National voters were more likely to think the Chinese economic slowdown was a threat. Only 18% of Liberal/National voters thought climate change was one of the two biggest threats to Australia.
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 Lab | Vote Lib/ Nat | Vote GRN | Vote other | Nov 2009 | Dec 2010 | Jun 2011 | Oct 2012 | Oct 2013 | Dec 2014 | Mar 2015 | |||
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity | 56% | 70% | 40% | 95% | 43% | 53% | 45% | 50% | 48% | 52% | 57% | 54% | ||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate | 31% | 20% | 50% | 5% | 42% | 34% | 36% | 39% | 39% | 36% | 29% | 31% | ||
| Don’t know | 12% | 10% | 10% | – | 15% | 13% | 19% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 15% |
56% (up 2% since March) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 31% (no change) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. This is the second highest belief in climate change recorded over the last 6 years.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 63%/21% and those aged 55+ split 47%/45%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 68%/22%.
Countries doing enough on climate change
Q. As far as you know, do you think the following countries are doing enough, not enough or too much to address climate change?
| Doing enough | Not doing enough | Doing too much | Don’t know | Doing enough
Dec 2014 |
Not doing enough Dec 2014 | ||
| Australia | 28% | 53% | 6% | 14% | 26% | 51% | |
| USA | 18% | 57% | 3% | 23% | 17% | 53% | |
| China | 11% | 69% | 1% | 19% | 9% | 63% |
53% of respondents think Australia is not doing enough to address climate change – while 57% think the USA is not doing enough and 69% think China is not doing enough. Only 28% think that Australia is doing enough.
Those most likely to think Australia is not doing enough were aged 18-34 (60%), Greens voters (95%), Labor voters (69%) and people with university education (65%).
Carbon emissions
Q. Australia’s current target to reduce its carbon emissions is a 5% reduction on our 2000 level of emissions by 2020. The Climate Change Authority recently recommended that, because of commitments by other countries, Australia’s target should be 30% below our 2000 level of emissions by 2025. Should Australia:
| Total | Vote Labor | Vote Lib/Nat | Vote Greens | Vote other | ||
| Retain its current target of 5% | 18% | 10% | 34% | 3% | 16% | |
| Move to a higher target, such as 10% | 25% | 24% | 28% | 18% | 30% | |
| Move to the recommended target of 30% | 34% | 43% | 17% | 72% | 30% | |
| Not have any target | 7% | 6% | 10% | 2% | 9% | |
| Don’t know | 16% | 17% | 11% | 4% | 15% |
Only 18% think that Australia should retain its current target of 5% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. 34% think that Australia should move to the recommended target of 30% and 25% think we should move to a higher target such as 10%.
43% of Labor voters and 72% of Greens voters think Australia should move to the 30% target. 34% of Liberal/National voters think Australia should keep the current 5% target while 45% think it should be higher.
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/ Indep- endent |
|||
|
Yes, they need to act now, without delay |
45% |
56% |
27% |
79% |
42% |
||
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 12 months |
10% |
15% |
10% |
4% |
7% |
||
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 5 years |
10% |
9% |
13% |
4% |
11% |
||
|
Yes, they need to act in the next 10 years |
4% |
4% |
6% |
1% |
4% |
||
|
No, they don’t need to act |
15% |
6% |
28% |
5% |
23% |
||
|
Don’t know |
16% |
11% |
16% |
6% |
14% |
||
A majority (55%) think that world leaders need to act on climate change now or in the next 12 months. 14% think they need to act within the next 5- 10 years and 15% think they do not need to act at all.
While 71% of Labor voters think they need to act now or within the next 12 months, only 37% of Liberal/National voters agree.
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 09 |
Dec 10 |
Jun 11 |
Oct 12 |
Oct 13 |
Dec 14 |
|
| Climate change is happening and is caused by human activity |
54% |
67% |
37% |
84% |
38% |
53% |
45% |
50% |
48% |
52% |
57% |
||
| We are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate |
31% |
22% |
49% |
11% |
45% |
34% |
36% |
39% |
39% |
36% |
29% |
||
| Don’t know |
15% |
11% |
14% |
5% |
17% |
13% |
19% |
12% |
13% |
12% |
14% |
54% (down 3% since December) agree that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity and 31% (up 2%) believe that we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate. Although this is a fall in belief in climate change since December, it is still the second highest recorded over the last 6 years.
By age groups, those aged under 35 split 62%/20% and those aged 55+ split 39%/51%. People with higher education were more likely to think climate change is happening and is caused by human activity – those with university degrees split 62%/25%.
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
Recent Comments
