According to a study, over half of Europeans feel climate change is the next global concern, and 88 percent say renewable energy should play a greater role in the economy, Openaccessgovernment.org writes.
A survey commissioned jointly by the European Parliament and the Commission polled 26,530 persons from all 27 EU member states on themes ranging from citizenship to renewable energy.
An overwhelming 88 percent of respondents stated they wanted renewable energy to account for a higher part of European GDP.
As of 2020, the EU has a 21.3 percent share of energy from renewable sources, which was 1.3 percent more than the bloc’s aim. The EU’s overall goal is to acquire 32% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.
The three most often identified difficulties were social inequality (36%), unemployment (32%), and migration concerns (32%). (31 percent ).
It also discovered that 49 percent of Europeans feel climate change is the most pressing global concern for the EU’s future, with the majority backing the key ideas of the European Green Deal.
Even if carbon emission limits are fulfilled, it would take 20-30 years for global temperatures to stabilize, according to the IPCC report, which was compiled over an eight-year period by over 700 experts.
According to the statistics, unless there is a massive shift in policy execution that results in considerable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, worldwide limiting a continuing increase in temperature “to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach.”
In addition to that understanding, there is a large amount of data indicating a changing climate has a direct impact on how people live, down to their chances of surviving COVID. In certain areas, air pollution raises the risk of serious sickness, and in others, shifting waterways may harm Indigenous people.
When the survey was narrowed down to specific age groups, it revealed that 91 percent of younger generations believe that combating climate change is directly related to their own health and well-being.
Age does not seem to be a deciding factor in this opinion, since 84 percent of people above the age of 55 agree. Another 80% of people feel it is critical to create Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050.