How Covid-19 economic recovery influences citizens’ views on climate crisis

The current health crisis has changed citizens’ perception of challenges their country is facing today. In 2019, nearly half of Europeans ranked climate change as the top challenge This year, however, only 33% name climate change as one of the top three challenges.

The first release of the 2020-2021 EIB Climate Survey reveals European citizens' attitudes and views on climate change in a rapidly changing world. The third EIB Climate Survey shows how the COVID-19 crisis is influencing citizens' perception of the climate emergency. Discover the results from the first of the survey's three releases.

People in China still rank climate change as their top priority, in contrast to citizens in the EU and in the US

The current health crisis has changed citizens' perception of the challenges their country is facing today. In 2019, nearly half of Europeans ranked climate change as the top challenge This year, however, only 33% name climate change as one of the top three challenges. There are some differences between perceptions in Europe, the United States, and China:

In all European countries, COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest challenge (72%).

For Americans, COVID-19 is also the country's greatest challenge (73%). Last year, they ranked access to healthcare and health services as their top challenge.

For Chinese people, climate change still ranks as the top challenge (61%), with the pandemic ranked closely behind (59%).

This focus on the COVID-19 pandemic is seen in all segments of the population. However, climate change remains a greater challenge for younger Europeans than for the population as a whole: among 15-19 year-olds, it is the second most important challenge (40%), cited equally with unemployment.