Only 10% of citizens place global warming as their greatest concern ten years from now
“Climate change is already an undeniable reality, and stopping it is a challenge that requires everyone’s involvement and awareness. However, half of society still does not perceive a situation of risk or urgency due to the current effects of global warming“. This is the main conclusion of the study ‘Sustainable consumption. From intention to action’, prepared by the social research and market studies institute Imop Insights, with the collaboration of the global network of entrepreneurial communities Impact Hub.
Only 26% of those consulted believe that climate change will soon cause “very serious” repercussions on the planet in the short termwhile 18% place them in the longer term and believes that the current generations will not get to know them.
Prepared from a sample of 2,150 people, the study concludes that three out of four citizens state that they have already taken measures in their daily lives to combat global warming. However, there is still a significant gap between the predisposition or knowledge and the actual practice of more sustainable behaviors.
One of the reasons for this gap is that “it is difficult to assume climate risk at the individual level because, even if sustainable habits and measures are adopted, it is not easy to see the direct benefits of more responsible behavior“.
During the presentation of the study, the need to “de-ideologize climate change” to encourage sustainable behaviors.
For 62% of those consulted, being sustainable is an attitude, a way of understanding life, although sometimes it is not enough. But there is 30% who would only really change their habits if they were offered some benefit for doing it, and 8% would only do it if forced.
global threat to humans
“Those people with psychosocial characteristics favorable to sustainability are still somewhat isolated, despite the fact that they share values, attitudes and habits. For this reason, as a society we need to overcome the contextual gap of sustainable development”, says Diego Herranz, director of the Unit of Behavioral Analysis in IMOP Insight.
“Information and discourses, experiences and emotions, have to give way to legislation consistent with the needs of societyso that people who intend to act are not held back by the sacrifice involved in changing habits and see it as a personal and collective benefit”, adds Herranz.
When asked by the aspects that most concern them ten years from nowonly 16% place climate change firstvastly outnumbered by unemploymentthe working conditions and the wages (28%). Aspects such as loss of valuesthe violence or the extremismthe population aging waves pensions They are also around 15%.
“The climate crisis represents the greatest global threat to the entire human species, and yet the gap between intention and action, between speech and facts. it is still a great abyss,” says Antonio González, CEO of Impact Hub Madrid.
“The discourse of sustainability has gained notoriety in the political and business spheres, but we need a generalized, massive and aligned response citizens, public administrations, the business world and the third sector”, highlights González.
“We need effective policies and actions to promote behaviors that contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change and to design the economic and productive processes of the future”, adds the leader of Impact Hub.
Little sacrificed habits
As far as the responsible consumption, the study identifies four responses from citizens: the active ones, who are convinced and aware (30%); the pro-sustainable, who are motivated or in the process of changing their habits (39%); the passive (24%); and the unbelievers (7%).
The study also shows that the sustainable behavior it is limited to habits with little sacrifice, such as using multi-use bags, buying only the clothes I need or buying local food products. On the contrary, it costs more to bet on sustainable mobility, eliminate purchases that have a great environmental impact or buy second-hand clothes.
Likewise, perceptions are collected such as society understands that companies and governments should be the ones to develop the right technology and products to consume; that sustainable consumption is not accessible to the whole of society, but only to a few; or that the messages about how we should behave are sometimes contradictory or changing.
Reference article: https://madrid.impacthub.net/2022/09/06/comportamientos-sostenibles-brecha-accion/
………
Environment section contact: [email protected]