Poll: British voters support stronger climate action, but cost concerns remain
Major new survey reveals eight out of 10 voters accept delaying climate action will make it costlier in the future
British voters largely support stronger climate action, although concerns remain widespread over the prospect of higher taxes or bills to help fund efforts to curb emissions.
That is the conclusion of a major new study from the think tank Onward based on a survey of nearly 8,500 people carried out over the summer by J.L. Partners.
Echoing the results of a raft of similar polls in recent months, the survey revealed overwhelming support for bolder climate action from voters. Excluding a small proportion of ‘Don’t Know’ responses, over two thirds of voters said they believe that “tackling climate change is one of the most important issues we face today”, with a similar proportion agreeing that “the government is not being bold enough on its measures to tackle climate change”.
Similarly, eight out of 10 voters agreed that delaying climate action will make it costlier to address the challenge in the future.
However, the poll also found that voters were pretty evenly split on whether there were willing to bear some of the short term financial costs of accelerating climate action. Half said would be happy to pay more taxes if it led to lower carbon emissions, while just 46 per cent were happy to pay higher prices for fuel and household items for the same results, suggesting significant numbers remain opposed to any increase in costs related to the net zero transition.
Economists have consistently concluded that the overall costs of the net zero transition are negligible and may even be net positive when co-benefits such as improved health outcomes are considered. But there is also evidence the costs associated with the transition are unevenly spread and tend to be front-loaded, meaning businesses and households could face increased costs in the short term for measures such as energy efficiency improvements that then only pay back over the long term.
In an attempt to more granularly gauge levels of public support for climate action, the study’s authors asked voters about their views on nine climate policies and found that while voters of every background support stronger climate action in principle, they were more hesitant to support net zero policies when short term costs are highlighted.
The three costliest policies polled related to household renovations for energy efficiency and support for each of the policies dropped the most when voters discovered the price.
For example, when the estimated £8,000 cost per household for installing insulation and double glazing was disclosed support for the policy fell from 36 per cent to -12 per cent.
Voters similarly withdrew their support from policies that would require landlords and homeowners to install high grade insulation and a low energy boiler if they want to sell their house, when discovering that it could cost £16,700 per household. Support for the policy dropped from 31 per cent to -13 per cent. Support for subsidies for heat pumps and hydrogen boilers also fell sharply when an estimated cost of £50 a year in additional taxes per household was revealed.
Only two policies did not lose support from voters when information about their cost was disclosed. An annual tax of £2 per taxpayer for funding the installation of EV charging points in every neighbourhood and petrol station did not impact voter support for the policy. Similarly, support increased for a new tax on domestic gas bills to encourage people to move to electric heating from -3 per cent to 8 per cent, when respondents discovered it would cost just £28 per household per year.
“This report should provide the Government with confidence that the net zero agenda does not appear likely to become a significant dividing line in British politics,” said Alex Luke, researcher at Onward and author of the report. “Voters are near-unanimous in their belief of the need to act with urgency and the benefits of doing so.
“But it also uncovers some hard truths. There is real concern about how much the transition will cost voters, and how they may need to change their homes. Striking the right balance between decarbonising at pace and protecting consumers will be key.”
In its recent Net Zero Strategy, the UK government stressed that its climate policies were broadly designed to catalyse technology development so as to reduce the costs of new measures such as heat pumps and energy efficiency upgrades, while ensuring any costs that remain are fairly shared.
The report revealed support for climate action was mostly unanimous across age group, ethnicity, region, social grade, and political affiliation, with some marginal discrepancies. Of the 30 constituencies most supportive of net zero, 25 were located within London, while constituencies in the north east and more rural areas in the midlands and south west were a bit more sceptical.
Graduates and high earners were the most supportive of net zero policies and willing to pay higher taxes and prices, while Labour voters that switched to Conservative in 2019 were more supportive of ever policy and their costs than the average Conservative voter.
Support for climate action remained strong among voters despite their scepticism about international efforts to curb emissoins. Only 35 per cent of voters trust other countries to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to climate action, but 69 per cent still agreed the UK should try to reduce its emissions even if other countries did not sign up to reduce theirs.
Commenting on the findings, Will Tanner, director of Onward, said that while voters are supportive of action to cut emissions, “climate consensus is more fragile than it appears”, particularly in relation to cost concerns and the actions other countries are taking.
“This makes negotiations in COP26 in Glasgow all the more important – not just to secure international commitments, but also to generate the investment and innovation needed to cut costs and prevent green policies pushing families into the red,” he said.
