Another sign of waning public interest in climate action is that the share of people who think action to curb climate change is urgently needed has fallen from 83 percent to 72 percent during the election season.
Kantar Public collected a survey from 1,043 people from different parts of the country on behalf of the government’s climate communication steering group.
Although Finns still consider promoting the carbon sink of forests to be important, according to the survey, there is a share of those who hope that more attention will be paid to the amount of felling and forest management practices in order to preserve the carbon sink. .
The results also reveal a decreasing willingness to increase the taxation of foods with a large carbon footprint, such as meat and dairy products, and the share of respondents willing to do so will decrease from approximately 50 percent to 33 percent in 2019-2023.
However, the results also reveal a significant change in the other direction. Almost three-quarters (74%) of respondents said they were ready to reduce electricity consumption during peak demand, a 12-point jump from 2019. In addition, two-thirds of respondents said they had recently reduced heat and electricity consumption.
Päivi Suur-UskiMotiva’s expert praised the public energy saving efforts this winter and considered that they show the ability to make the necessary adaptations to the climate crisis.
“Now we should move to more permanent energy measures, i.e. continue renovations that improve the energy efficiency of people’s homes in the long term and invest in non-fossil heating systems. These energy savings show that we can change our habits quickly, which is absolutely necessary to curb climate change,” he said.
Although Finns widely see climate change as a threat, the majority of respondents also saw opportunities in the green transition. More than two-thirds (68%) of the respondents estimate that climate-friendly solutions improve well-being in Finland. Four fifths of the respondents also considered that the development of know-how and technical solutions to curb the climate is a way to strengthen the country’s competitiveness.
Several significant investments in green technologies are underway in Finland.
The answers varied considerably based on several factors. Women, the young, the highly educated, and supporters of the Greens, the Left Alliance, and the Social Democrats had the most positive attitude toward climate action. Negative attitudes, on the other hand, were common, especially among supporters of the center, the Basic Finns and the Coalition.
The support of the residents of the capital region for climate measures was also higher than that of the residents of the countryside.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page