Polling climate in Europe

EPCC cover

European Perceptions of Climate Change, the March 2017 report of a public opinion survey conducted in June 2016 in France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom, offers (PDF) information about the attitudes toward the reality of, the causes behind, and the scientific consensus about climate change in those countries.

Asked, "As far as you know, do you think the world's climate is changing or not," 92% of French respondents, 83% of German respondents, 93% of Norwegian respondents, and 86% of British respondents answered yes; 6%, 16%, 4%, and 12% answered no; and 2%, 1%, 3%, and 2% indicated that they didn't know.

Asked, "Thinking about the causes of climate change, which, if any, of the following best describes your opinion," 55% of French respondents, 49% of German respondents, 34% of Norwegian respondents, and 43% of British respondents said that it was mainly or completely caused by human activity; 36%, 34%, 57%, and 41% said that it was partly caused by natural processes and partly caused by human activity; 8%, 9%, 9%, and 11% said that it was mainly or entirely caused by natural processes; and 1%, 6%, less than 1%, and 2% said that there was no such thing as climate change.

Asked, "To the best of your knowledge, what proportion of scientists agree that climate change is happening and that humans are largely causing it," 33% of French respondents, 24% of German respondents, 35% of Norwegian respondents, and 30% of British respondents correctly answered that the vast majority of scientists (80% or more) agree.

Conducted by Ipsos Mori, the survey polled 1010 French, 1001 German, 1004 Norwegian, and 1033 British respondents; Norwegian respondents were interviewed by telephone and the other respondents face-to-face. The data were weighted to ensure representative samples. The reported results for national samples are accurate to within 2-3%.