Variations in Climate Opinions Across the United Kingdom

A new interactive mapping tool that “depicts public climate change beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, experiences, and attribution beliefs across the UK.” It finds that “a very large majority of adults in the UK think climate change is happening (85%) and human-caused (74%), but many also perceive climate change as a relatively distant threat…only 55% think it will harm them personally.” Also the use of renewable energy for electricity, fuel, and heating is very popular across the UK (80%), and polarisation is much lower than in the US, with 2/3 thinking climate change should be a priority for government. The maps also reinforce the earlier finding that “direct exposure to extreme weather does not automatically translate into stronger belief that climate change affects these events. Rather, when appropriate, communicators need to help people ‘connect the dots’ between climate change and extreme events, drawing on the findings of attribution science.”