As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the aforementioned Norwegian company conducted a survey among more than 18,000 respondents across nine countries, including the Republic of Croatia, about what consumers think about climate change and the current soaring energy prices.
Overall, at the level of all the countries included in the research, three quarters of respondents are concerned about the negative consequences of climate change and see one of the solutions lying precisely with renewable energy sources. More than two-thirds (69%) believe that the development of renewable energy sources should be a priority given the problems with climate change and energy supplies. Almost a quarter of those surveyed (23%) said that their perception of renewable energy sources has become more positive over the last six months, while the overall rate of acceptance of wind power plants and solar power plants is now at the level of 80 and 87 percent, respectively.
Croatian energy bill worries are the highest, just like they are for the Irish
Of all the countries surveyed, concern about the potentially higher cost of electricity was highest in Ireland (86%) and Croatia (81%). When asked about electricity prices, 81% of people surveyed here in Croatia are concerned about the possible costs of their electricity bills; 62% of the respondents think that they may not be able to cover the expected increase in energy prices with their savings, while as many as 85% think that more and more serious investments in renewable energy sources across Croatia should have been made a very long time ago.
Despite this pressure of rising energy prices that people feel, 50% of respondents in Croatia say that due to other challenges they’re dealing with in life, they don’t have time to look for more favourable options for supplying electricity.
Respondents in Croatia also showed the greatest concern among all countries regarding the security of an energy supply – 77% of respondents stated that they were concerned about the issue of security of energy supplies. At the same time, 56% of the respondents from Croatia – again the highest percentage among all the surveyed countries – say that they were primarily motivated by the war in Ukraine to take such a view and attitude; 79% of citizens claim that they began to consider the topic of energy in a more significant way only because of this war.
Croatia also leads the way in terms of awareness of sources of electricity – the vast majority of respondents (87%) claim that they know where their energy comes from; this is again the highest percentage in this survey across all of the involved countries.
Arnaud Bellanger, Statkraft’s manager for the Republic of Croatia, commented on the survey results in Croatia with the following words: “These survey results show clear public support for the development of clean energy, with people wanting Croatia to act quickly on this. By increasing the production capacity of renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels, Croatian consumers can be additionally protected from changes on an unstable market which is facing rising costs.”
Croatian residents are aware of the issue of climate change, but mostly they don’t know about the initiatives that are trying to solve this pressing problem
Croatian residents are well aware of the issue of climate change, and 75% of respondents in this survey said they were worried about the direct consequences of climate change on them and their families. They’re mostly worried about floods, fires, heat waves and a rise in sea levels (48%), the impact on human health (42%), the negative impact on food prices (40%), the impact on human and animal habitats (39%) and the inability to plan for the future because of these dire uncertainties (23%).
However, in this survey, as many as 93% of Croats said that they weren’t aware of any specific goals and activities that the country is undertaking to become carbon neutral. Respondents are divided about who should primarily solve the problem: 36% of people say that they don’t feel any pressure or incentive to face the problem themselves, while 31% are very aware of it and feel a need to act.
Public support for significant expansion of renewable energy sources
Croatian residents believe that the government should primarily encourage solving the problem of climate change through more policies and incentives to reduce carbon emissions, including incentives for electric vehicles (56% of respondents), the faster introduction of clean energy for personal and business use (46%), the better education of people about how they can reduce their carbon footprint on their own (49%), more incentives for the use of clean energy in companies and industry (59%) and an easier process for planning initiatives that work to fight climate change (42%).
Faced with rising energy prices due to the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis, respondents in Croatia overwhelmingly (75%) said that significant expansion of production capacity in the area of renewable energy sources must become a priority throughout Europe. One third of Croatian respondents – 34% of those surveyed – say that they view renewable energy sources, stimulated by these crises during the past months, much more favourably than they did before.
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