Lethal Heating: 10/08/20

08/10/2020

(USA) How Important Is Climate Change To Voters In The 2020 Election?

Pew Research Center - Alec Tyson

As Election Day nears, a majority of registered voters in the United States say climate change will be a very (42%) or somewhat (26%) important issue in making their decision about whom to vote for in the presidential election, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted July 27-Aug. 2.

Findings

These findings are from a recent Pew Research Center study conducted to understand American voters’ attitudes about the 2020 presidential election and campaigns.

We surveyed 11,001 U.S. adults – including 9,114 registered voters – between July 27 and Aug. 2, 2020.

Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection.

The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Registered voters supporting Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican President Donald Trump have very different perspectives on the issue.

Nearly seven-in-ten Biden voters (68%) say climate change is very important to their vote. By contrast, only 11% of Trump supporters say the same.

In fact, climate change ranks last in importance (out of 12 issues tested in a recent survey) for Trump supporters.

The issue of climate change has been growing in importance for Americans over time. Six-in-ten adults now view climate change as a major threat to the well-being of the U.S. – up from 44% who said this in 2009.

And a January survey – fielded before the coronavirus outbreak – found a rising share citing climate change as a top priority for the president and Congress. In both instances, rising concern has been concentrated among Democrats, but not Republicans.

Still, the share of all voters who say climate change will be very important to their vote (42%) trails behind other leading issues such as the economy (79%), health care (68%) and the coronavirus outbreak (62%).

For Biden supporters, climate change is among several high-level issue priorities this election.

Although 68% say it is very important to their vote, this ranks behind majorities on issues like health care (84%), the coronavirus outbreak (82%) and racial and ethnic inequality (76%) – and about on par with the level of priority given to economic inequality (65%).

Climate change ranks ahead of several other issues for Biden voters, including foreign policy and violent crime.

Liberal Biden supporters are especially likely to prioritize climate change in their 2020 vote.

Nearly eight-in-ten Biden supporters who describe their political views as liberal (79%) say climate change is a very important election issue, compared with a somewhat smaller majority of moderate and conservative Biden voters (60%).

Climate change ranks higher on the minds of White and Hispanic than Black Biden voters. About half of Black Biden supporters (54%) consider climate change to be very important to their vote; larger shares of Hispanic (75%) and White (71%) Biden supporters say the same.

Trump voters place low importance on the issue of climate change, but there are some differences in voter priorities by ideology, gender and generation.

Two-in-ten moderate or liberal Trump supporters say climate change is very important to their 2020 vote, compared with just 6% of those who describe their views as conservative.

Among Trump supporters, women as well as Millennials and Gen Zers are somewhat more likely than men and older supporters to say the issue of climate change is important to their vote this fall.

Still, across all major demographic groups, no more than two-in-ten Trump voters place high importance on the issue.

Biden and Trump supporters are far apart in how they prioritize the issue of climate change.

But a May survey found Republicans and Democrats agree on some policies aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change.

For instance, 90% of Democrats and Democratic leaners and 78% of Republicans and those who lean to the GOP say they would favor providing a tax credit to businesses for developing carbon capture and storage technology.

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(AU) Back Of The Pack: Australia Now The Worst OECD Country For Climate Change Action

The New Daily - Cait Kelly

Australia has become the worst-performing of all OECD countries when it comes to climate change, and will soon become a global pariah unless federal policies change fast, experts warn.

It comes as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the first democratic leader to outline a green-centred plan for rebuilding the country and creating jobs when the coronavirus crisis ends.

One of Australia’s leading experts in climate change, Professor Will Steffen said the UK’s announcement has left Australia in the dust.

“The UK is the first country to put forward a concrete plan but other OECD counties, particularly the Nordic ones – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – already have advanced plans,” he told The New Daily.

“We and the United States are stumbling around while most European countries are trying to get it done.”

He said depending on how the US election plays out, Australia could soon become an outlier.

“We’re pretty much alone now and who knows how the US is going to go,” Professor Steffen said.

“If the election changes the government, you’ll see much more action on climate change. They’ve got great wind resources. They’ve got enormous tech capability. If they get the politics right, they could change fast.

Australia is lagging behind its peers when it comes to climate change. Photo: AAP

“We have enormous renewable sources, but we’re being held back by politics.”

The stark warning we have fallen behind the pack comes as new analysis from WWF reveals that in terms of committing to stimulus spending on renewables, Australia lags even further behind.

We are currently spending five times less than the conservative UK government and 10 times less than South Korea – a major trading partner.

The European Union has committed $400 billion to a renewable recovery stimulus, while Germany has committed $59 billion, France $58 billion, South Korea $52 billion and the UK $35 billion.

Comparatively, Australia committed just $2.5 billion, the report notes.

“While these commitments are significant and important positive steps, when compared to the measures taken by other countries, including our major trading partners, it is clear there is still much to be done,” it reads.

“We need to go further to capitalise on the huge economic and environmental opportunities that renewable industries represent for Australia.”

The government has focused Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19 on fossil fuels, namely gas.

Australia has committed just $2.5 billion to renewable stimulus, behind France and Germany.

Last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would reset the east coast gas market by unlocking supply and creating dozens of new gas basins for mining.

“To help fire our economic recovery, the next plank in our JobMaker plan is to deliver more Australian gas where it is needed at an internationally competitive price,” the PM said.

“We’ll work with industry to deliver a gas hub for Australia that will ensure households and businesses enjoy the benefits of our abundant local gas while we hold our position as one of the top global liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters.”

Both the energy industry and climate change experts have slammed the plan, saying it will only benefit the gas industry and comes as all intentional markets are moving towards renewables.

Coal is dying

Chris Barfoot was a third-generation coal miner. He worked at Hazelwood, Victoria’s now decommissioned coal-fired power plant.

Many in coal communities see the writing on the wall.

“I worked in coal for 35 years. I’m third generation, but the simple fact down here is coal is dying,” he said.

“We recognise the power stations here are going to close and they won’t be replaced.”

Chris Barfoot is a third-generation coal miner. Photo: Chris Barfoot

Mr Barfoot has transferred his skills into renewables and is consulting on what will be Australia’s first offshore wind farm, Star of the South.

“I sided with the devil and went green. But the thing is the jobs we’ve built here. You don’t lose when you go to renewables. You’re just changing the fuel source,” he said.

“Let’s be blunt, coal will never let us achieve our carbon target. Wind power will.”

But some say it’s already too late, and Australia is going to need to do much more to avoid a climate catastrophe.

Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University and author of Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation Patrick Moriarty said it ‘‘won’t be easy’’ moving to renewables this late in the piece.

“Our emissions per capita are high by OECD standards. We have much higher per capita emissions than European countries or Japan,” Dr Moriarty said.

Australia’s coal exports are adding to our international carbon emissions. Photo: Getty

“We should have started 30 years ago when the IPCC warned us about climate change. But we didn’t. In fact, until a decade ago the percentage of renewable energy was falling.”

He said it was increasingly likely that cutting down fossil fuels would mean cutting back on behaviours we enjoy – like international travel.

“Quite frankly moving to renewable energy won’t stop climate change in the next decade or two. We’re going to have to cut back on fossil fuel by cutting back on energy use,” he said.

“We’ll have to reduce our energy consumption. We have to move to de-growth.

“We’ll have to stop the growth economy. We’re living on a finite world and we cannot have infinite expansion.”

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World Risk Poll Reveals Global Threat From Climate Change

Gallup - Andrew Rzepa | Julie Ray

This is the first in a series of blogs featuring key findings from the new Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll report.

Climate scientists almost unanimously agree that climate change is a serious threat to people and is associated with human activities.

While the severity of the problem will affect people in various countries differently, the new Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll finds that the majority of people globally believe climate change poses a threat to the next generation in their countries.

More than four in 10 (41%) people interviewed for the global risk survey in 2019 said that climate change poses a "very serious" threat to people in their countries in the next 20 years, and another 28% said it poses a "somewhat serious" threat. About one in eight (13%) said it was "not a threat at all."

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Circle chart. This shows the perceived threat that people worldwide perceive from climate change in the next 20 years. The majority of people worldwide said that climate change would be a very serious or somewhat serious threat to people in their countries in the next 20 years.

The World Risk Poll, the first global study of worry and risk, provides a global snapshot of people's perceptions of the threat that climate change and other risks pose to their countries and themselves.

Overall, the survey of more than 154,000 adults in 142 countries and territories conducted throughout 2019 paints a picture of the universal experiences of risk worldwide.

Majorities in Every Region of the World Perceive Some Threat

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While views of climate change as a very serious threat varied widely across regions, most people -- at least 60% -- in every region said climate change is a somewhat serious or very serious threat to people in their country in the next 20 years.

People in Southern Europe and the Latin America and Caribbean region were the most likely to say climate change is a very serious threat to people in their countries, with more than seven in 10 people (73% and 71%, respectively) expressing this opinion in each region.

Chart. This shows the perceived threat that people worldwide perceive from climate change in the next 20 years across all major global subregions. The majority of people in each region said that climate change would be a very serious or somewhat serious threat to people in their countries in the next 20 years.

Education, Gender Shape Attitudes Toward Climate Change Risk

A multitude of factors, including education and gender, help shape attitudes toward climate change. But none more so than education.

More than half (54%) of people with 16 or more years of education said they thought climate change is a very serious threat in the next 20 years, compared with nearly one in three (30%) of those with zero to eight years of education.

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Bar chart. This shows the perceived threat that people worldwide perceive from climate change in the next 20 years by their level of education. The perceived threat from climate change is highest among people with 16 or more years of education.

Men generally viewed climate change less seriously than women. While men and women were about as likely to believe climate change represents a very serious threat to people in their countries in the next 20 years, men were more likely than women to say that climate change is not a threat at all.

However, these gender patterns varied by region. In Northern America, Europe and Australia/New Zealand, more women than men said climate change is a very serious threat to the next generation in their countries.

In most other regions, more men than women said this. One exception was the Middle East, where equal percentages of men and women indicated climate change is a very serious threat to people in that time frame.

Top Carbon Emitters and Oil Producers More Skeptical

According to the International Energy Agency, the U.S. is the second-biggest carbon emitter in the world, behind China. The U.S. had the highest percentage of climate change skeptics among high-income countries; 21% of people in the U.S. viewed climate change as not a threat at all.

Still, nearly half (49%) viewed climate change as a very serious threat, and another 24% viewed it as a somewhat serious threat.

Interestingly, people in China appeared less concerned about climate change than those in the U.S., primarily because many people in China did not express an opinion on the matter.

Slightly fewer than one in four people (23%) in China thought climate change is a very serious threat, 36% said it is a somewhat serious threat, and 12% believed it is not a threat at all. Nearly 30% of people in China said they did not know.

People in India, the world's third-biggest carbon emitter, were roughly as skeptical about climate change as people in the U.S. Nineteen percent of people in India said climate change is not a threat at all, versus 35% who think climate change is a very serious threat.

In four of the top seven oil-producing nations, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, at least one in five of the population stated that climate change posed "no threat," placing them within the top 20 most skeptical countries across the world.

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Bar graph. This graph shows the top countries where people are most likely to say that climate change is not a threat at all to people in their countries over the next 20 years.

No Answer on Climate Change

Paralleling a study Gallup undertook in 2009, Gallup found more than 1 billion adults (18% of the global adult population) unable or unwilling to express their view about the potential effect of climate change.

Although this represents a smaller figure than in previous years, the top 20 list largely consists of low- and middle-income countries.

These include several that are likely to be disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change, such as Bangladesh, where slightly more than one-third of the population did not provide a response to the question.

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Bar graph. This graph shows the top countries where people are most likely to say they do not know or refused to answer the question about whether climate change poses a threat to their countries over the next 20 years.

Implications

Efforts to address climate change will be aided by understanding how people across the world think and feel about the risks of climate change and the factors that contribute to their perceptions.

While the World Risk Poll findings suggest that the efforts to communicate the risks from climate change are being understood, a significant proportion of people remain skeptical or have no opinion on the issue.

Therefore, to further raise public awareness of climate change risks to health and livelihoods globally and for each country, scientists and others can use the World Risk Poll results to support their engagement with different communities, recognizing the differences between different demographic groups in society.

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