>@ Cristian Negroni /Getty Images
© Cristian Negroni / Getty Images

The first part of the 2021-2022 EIB Climate Survey explores people’s views on climate change in a rapidly changing world. The results from this release focus on citizens’ perceptions of climate change and the actions they expect their country to take to combat it. 

  • 74% of Finnish people think that climate change and its consequences are the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century
  • 70% are in favour of stricter government measures that impose changes on people’s behaviour (seven percentage points higher than last year)
  • 68% feel that climate change has an impact on their everyday lives
  • 48% believe that they are more concerned about the climate emergency than their government are
  • 49% think the country will fail in drastically reducing its carbon emissions by 2050, as pledged in the Paris Agreement
  • 75% would welcome a tax on products and services that contribute most to global warming
  • 89% say they want to replace short-distance flights by fast, low-polluting trains in collaboration with neighbouring countries

74% of Finnish people think that climate change and its consequences are the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century. This figure is greater than 69% in all sub-groups divided by age and political leanings within the Finnish population.

The vast majority of Finns (68%) also feel that climate change has an impact on their everyday lives (12 percentage points higher than last year but below the European average of 77%).

However, this apparent consensus hides significant gaps between different groups of the Finnish population. There are very diverse levels of concern and expectations on the topic of the climate among younger and older citizens, among people who have left-leaning and right-leaning political views, among men and women and across different socioeconomic categories.

For example: 82% of the 15-29-year-old respondents think that climate change and its consequences are the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century, nine percentage points above respondents older than 65 (73%) . There is also a marked difference among people with different political views: 84% of those with left-leaning political views say that climate change is the biggest challenge for humanity in the 21st century, compared to 69% of those with right-leaning political views.

These are some of the results from the first release of the 2021-2022 Climate Survey published on Oct. 27 by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EIB is the lending arm of the European Union and the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects.

Perception of the climate crisis: The country’s fight against climate change

The vast majority of Finns (68%) feel that climate change has an impact on their everyday lives. Although the majority of respondents across all age groups say they feel this impact, the generation gap is noticeable. While this is particularly marked among 15-29-year-olds (75%), this figure drops 11 percentage points (64%) for people older than 64 and 9 percentage points for 30-64-year-old respondents (66%). 76% of people who have left-leaning political views say they feel this impact in their everyday lives, which is 12 percentage points higher than for those who have right-leaning political views (64%).

48% believe that they are more concerned about the climate emergency than their government are. As a consequence, they are fairly pessimistic regarding their country’s capability to undergo an ambitious green transition. Only 51% think that Finland will succeed in drastically reducing its carbon emissions by 2050, as pledged in the Paris Agreement. About half (49%) think that Finland will fail to meet its reduced carbon emission targets. Younger generations are fairly more confident, with a seven point difference between people younger than 30 (53% of them believe Finland will succeed) and people older than 64 (46%). 54% of people over 64 believe Finland will actually fail to meet the 2050 deadline. 47% of 15-29-year-old respondents share this pessimism. 52% of people with left-leaning political views share this pessimism, which is four percentage points higher than the figure for people with right-leaning political views (48%). In addition, 58% of Finnish respondents with children under 18 think the country will succeed in reducing its carbon emissions, while this figure decreases to 49% for respondents without young children.

As a consequence, more than two-thirds (70%) of Finnish people are in favour of stricter government measures – similar to the ones implemented to combat the COVID-19 crisis – that would impose changes on people’s behaviour (seven percentage points higher than last year, 63%).

Meanwhile, only 9% of Finns believe that global warming is not due to human activities. 12% of men share this view, while only 7% of women agree with this statement. Only 4% of Finnish people who have left-leaning political views believe that global warming is not due to human activities, which is eight percentage points below the figure for people with right-leaning political views (12%).

The energy debate

When asked about the source of energy their country should rely on to fight global warming, the majority of Finns favour renewable energies (62%) to address the climate emergency. This sentiment is shared nearly equally by Europeans as a whole (63%). Finns with left-leaning political views support renewables more strongly than those with right-leaning political views (72% compared to 50%, a difference of 22 percentage points). Finnish women support renewables more strongly than men (69% compared to 55%, a difference of 14 percentage points).

Finns overall are more supportive of nuclear energy than other Europeans (19% vs. 12%). In Finland, people older than 64 (24%) are more in favour of nuclear energy than people younger than 30 (17%). The gender gap is striking: men (30%) are much more in favour of nuclear energy than women (8%). People with right-leaning political views in Finland are much more in favour of the development of nuclear energy (32%) compared to those with left-leaning political views (13%). People with higher incomes are also more in favour of the development of nuclear energy (23%) compared to those with lower incomes (17%).

Finally, Finns are less likely to think that their country should rely on energy savings than other Europeans (11% vs. 17%). Saving energy is ranked above an increased role for natural gas (6%). The gender gap in energy savings is also noticeable: women (15%) are more inclined to support energy savings than men (7%).

Most popular solutions to fight climate change among Finns

The majority of Finnish people (75%) would support – to a greater extent than Europeans in general (69%) – the introduction of a tax on products and services that contribute most to global warming. Even 72% of respondents with lower incomes would be in favour of such a tax in Finland. Finns are also in favour of a 5-year minimum warranty on any electric or electronic product (90%) and replacing short-distance flights with fast, low-emission trains (89%). They also favour softer measures like strengthening education and increasing youth awareness of sustainable consumption (92%).

EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros said: “Despite some generational and sociodemographic divides, a strong majority of people in Finland appear to want stricter measures and tools, such as cleaner energy sources, to help them fight climate change. In the run-up to COP 26, this illustrates the importance of increasing our efforts and accelerating the ecological transition. As the European climate bank, the role of the EIB is to finance projects that focus on clean energy, energy savings, sustainable mobility solutions, as well as innovations that help limit the rise in temperature to 1.5°C or less.”  

Download the Excel spreadsheet with the raw data for all 30 countries surveyed here. Please click here to access the EIB website that presents key findings of the EIB Climate Survey IV.

About the EIB Climate Survey

The European Investment Bank has launched the fourth edition of the EIB Climate Survey, a thorough assessment of how people feel about climate change. Conducted in partnership with market research firm BVA, the fourth edition of the EIB Climate Survey aims to inform the broader debate on attitudes and expectations in terms of climate action. More than 30 000 respondents participated in the survey between 26 August and 22 September 2021, with a representative panel for each of the 30 countries polled.

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries and is one of the world’s largest multilateral lenders for climate action projects. The EIB Group has recently adopted its Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support €1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and to deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. As part of the Roadmap, all new EIB Group operations have also been aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement since the start of 2021.

EIB at COP26

The EIB will be present with a pavilion in Hall 4 of the Scottish Event Campus and run a series of side events on numerous topics. You will find the full agenda here.

About BVA

BVA is an opinion research and consulting firm recognised as one of the most innovative market research firms in its sector. Specialised in behavioural marketing, BVA combines data science and social science to make data inspiring and bring it to life. BVA is also a member of the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research (WIN), a global network of some of the world’s leading market research and survey players, with over 40 members.