Survey: Czechs are climate sceptics, only Israel has a higher share of sceptics

According to the results of a public opinion survey across 18 predominantly European countries, Czechs are the second biggest climate sceptics after Israelis. Five percent of Czech Republic residents do not believe that global warming exists at all.

The public opinion survey conducted by British company NatCen and published last week showed how important the issue of climate change and global warming is to residents of the Czech Republic and 17 other countries. Somewhat surprisingly, the Czech Republic ranked alongside countries such as Israel and Russia, which have the highest shares of people with „climate-sceptical“ views.

According to the survey, 54 % of the Czech population is concerned about climate change, only one percentage point more than in Israel. At the same time, compared with other countries, the Czech Republic also has a relatively high share of residents who do not believe in climate change at all (5 %). Again, only Russia (14 %) and Israel (8 %) have a higher share of residents who do not believe in climate change.

As might be expected, neighbouring Germany is the most concerned about climate change, with 86 % of the population worried about it. Only one percent of Germans do not believe that global warming exists at all.

The survey also produced a surprising result for neighbouring Austria, where concern could have been expected to be relatively high. However, Austria ranked only seventh in the country comparison, and also had a relatively high percentage of residents who do not believe in climate change at all.

According to the survey results, the Czech Republic also stands out in another respect. While in the vast majority of countries there is a direct relationship between educational attainment and concern about climate change, the study found that this link is not clear in the Czech Republic.

Similarly, from a political perspective, it is interesting that in most of the countries surveyed, fear of climate change is associated more with the left-leaning part of the population. This is not the case only in the Czech Republic, Russia and Slovenia.