Special Eurobarometer 513, Climate Change

Abstract

Just over one in ten respondents in Cyprus believe that climate change is the single most serious problem facing the world (11%, compared with the EU average of 18%). As in 2019, climate change ranks third in Cyprus, behind poverty, hunger and the lack of drinking water (21% vs the EU average of 17%) and the economic situation (20% vs the EU average of 14%). In addition, close to nine in ten respondents think that climate change is a very serious problem (89%, above the EU average of 78%), an increase of six percentage points since 2019.Around seven in ten respondents in Cyprus believe that national governments (70% vs the EU average of 63%) and the European Union (69%vs the EU average of 57%) are responsible for tackling climate change, corresponding to increases of 20 and 27 percentage points respectivelysince 2019. Moreover, more than four in ten respondents say they are personally responsible for tackling climate change (46% vs the EU average of 41%). In fact, close to two thirds of respondents say they have taken action to fight climate change in the past six months (65%, similar to the EU average of 64%), and this proportion increases to 90% (below the EU average of 96%) when asked to choose from a list of 15 possible actions to fight climate change.On average, respondents in Cyprus are less likely to have taken any action to fight climate change. However, they are much more likely to have installed solar panels in their home (19%, compared with the EU average of 8%).More than nine in ten respondents in Cyprus agree that tackling climate change and environmental issues should be a priority to improve public health (92%, above the EU average of 87%). Moreover, nearly nine in ten respondents agree that the cost of the damage due to climate change is much higher than the investment needed for a green transition (86%, above the EU average of 74%).More than nine in ten respondents in Cyprus think it is important that both their national government (96% vs the EU average of 88%) and the European Union (96% vs the EU average of 87%) set ambitious targets to increase the amount of renewable energy used by 2030.Over nine in ten respondents in Cyprus (94% vs the EU average of 90%) agree that greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced to a minimum while offsetting the remaining emissions in order to make the EU economy climate-neutral by 2050. Finally, close to eight in ten respondents (79% vs the EU average of 75%) think that the money from the economic recovery plan should mainly be invested in the new green economy.