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Climate change and global warmingClimate change and global warming
About the author
Natasha Kassam
Natasha Kassam was Director of the Lowy Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program from 2019 to 2022, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations.
The past seven years have seen a dramatic reversal in Australian attitudes about climate change. In 2019, six in ten Australians (61%) say ‘global warming is a serious and pressing problem’, about which ‘we should begin taking steps now even if this involves significant costs’. This is a 25-point increase since 2012, and equals 2008 levels of concern. The peak of concern was recorded in 2006, when 68% of Australians expressed this view.
This rising concern aligns with climate change ranking at the top of the list of possible threats to Australia’s vital interests for the first time in 2019. A majority of Australian adults (64%) see climate change as ‘a critical threat’, an increase of six points from 2018 and 18 points since 2014.
There are generational differences on this issue. Three-quarters of Australians aged 18–44 (76%) say that global warming is a ‘serious and pressing problem [and] we should begin taking steps now even if this involves significant costs’, compared with around half (49%) of Australians aged over 45. About the same proportion of this older group (52%) see climate change as a critical threat to Australia’s vital interests.
Energy price rises and unreliable electricity supply are frequently cited as reasons for resistance to measures such as carbon pricing or increased use of renewable energy. However, the threat posed by climate change appears to be a greater priority for Australians than either reducing household bills or power blackouts. Despite fierce debate about renewables and political disagreement about the now-abandoned National Energy Guarantee policy, almost half of Australians (47%) say that the main priority for the federal government when thinking about energy policy should be ‘reducing carbon emissions’. Fewer (38%) say that ‘reducing household bills’ should be the main priority and only 15% nominate ‘reducing the risk of power blackouts’ as the main priority. Again, there are significant differences between the generations on this question: 62% of 18–44 year olds prioritise reducing emissions, compared with 33% of Australians over the age of 45.
