UK Government data shows that the great majority of people are concerned about climate and supportive of Net Zero by 2050.
However new research in BIT’s new report ‘How to build a Net Zero society’ finds that most people find it hard to make more sustainable choices in their own lives, despite 9 in 10 wanting to do so. They want to see strong leadership from government and business to make green choices easier.
Moreover, these high levels of public support aren’t just in the abstract – there are big majorities in favour of a whole host of specific policy recommendations, including many often deemed more controversial.
For example 60% support frequent flyer levies, 74% higher prices on unsustainable consumer goods, 76% pedestrianised town centres, and 53% a carbon tax on meat.
The public are more enthusiastic still for a range of supportive policies such as interest-free loans for home improvements (88%), eco-labels on products (83%) and a simplified recycling (93%) system. People are up for getting to Net Zero and are willing to do their bit and they are clamouring for help from government and business.
This episode of Inside The Nudge Unit features BIT’s Head of Sustainability Toby Park and Andrew Schein and Izzy Brennan from the team discussing how to close this gap between public appetite and available opionts. There are lots of actions and policies that can be implemented that are backed by compelling evidence but too often the sustainable choice is hard, very hard, or completely opaque.
Listen to Toby, Andrew and Izzy as they explore how to remove these barriers and frictions so that instead it’s the sustainable choices are the ones that are clear and easy.
The report ‘How to build a Net Zero society’ including the new research from the team discussed in this episode is available to download at: https://www.bi.team/publication/how-to-build-a-net-zero-society
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