Australian attitudes to climate change

09.11.15 By
This article is more than 8 years old

This week CSIRO released the results of a five-year study into Australian attitudes to climate change and adaptation.

Almost 17,500 people were surveyed about their views on climate change, and the results provide a fascinating insight into the minds of Australians.

You can read the full report here, but we’ve pulled out some key highlights for you below.

The majority of Australians (78%) accept that the climate is changing.

Regardless of their age, gender or level of education.

Most people overestimated how many Australians think climate change is not happening.

The number is actually really small!!

University scientists are the most trusted to provide information about climate change, followed by environmental scientists and environmental organisations.

Oil companies and car companies are the least trusted.

About two-thirds of surveyed Australians expect that temperatures will get warmer in their region in the next twenty years.

Less than 8% expect that temperatures will get cooler.

More than half the people surveyed had suffered injury, loss or damage as a result of extreme weather events.

Including extreme high temperatures (61%), heatwaves (61%) and drought (57%). The majority of people also think that these extreme weather events will increase in intensity and frequency in the future.

Check out the full survey results from the CSIRO here.


Image credit: Flickr user David Rogers-Worrall licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0