From Attitudes to Action: Environmental concerns and behaviours in Britain

An evidence review of existing polling and wider research was conducted, identifying gaps in the relevant literature. On this basis, the survey was drafted by Diffley Partnership, with support from a steering group comprising experts from various environmental charities and organisations.

The fieldwork was conducted online between 25th-31st August, with sample of 4,227 members the British adult (16+) population. This included 2,140 responses in England, 1,075 in Scotland, and 1,012 in Wales, allowing for meaningful and robust regional disaggregation and analysis. Responses were weighted to the British population by age, sex, and region, with corresponding targets derived from the Office for National Statistics’ data

A recent research project for People’s Postcode Lottery sought to assess how accurately people understand and estimate the impacts of certain environmental actions, and what would make people more likely to adopt these positive behaviours.

We found a tendency to overestimate the impact of day-to-day behaviours (such as recycling or active travel), and to underestimate the relative impacts of larger, high-impact lifestyle shifts (such as switching to an electric vehicle, flying less, or cutting down on meat and dairy). Despite these misconceptions, people were more likely to undertake an action when they perceived it to be more impactful.

We also identified a number of barriers to uptake of certain behaviours, and especially those which were more impactful. These largely fell into four categories: financial barriers, policy-related barriers, knowledge barriers, and lifestyle barriers.

This project spanned all of Great Britain, weighted to allow for both GB-wide analysis, and disaggregation for each constituent country and region.

Key Takeaways

• The British public show consistently high levels of concern at the climate crisis, with 83% reporting concern and 80% believing that it should be treated as an urgent problem. Of especial concern are its implications for wildlife and future generations.
• There is a tendency to overestimate the impact of day-to-day behaviours (such as recycling or active travel), and to underestimate the relative impacts of larger, high-impact lifestyle shifts (such as switching to an electric vehicle, flying less, or cutting down on meat and dairy)
• A clear majority of respondents have already taken positive steps to reduce their environmental impact, with two thirds already recycling as much as possible, and one third having switched to active forms of travel.
• Nevertheless, certain impediments remain in place. Chief among these are financial constraints that precluded respondents from making the consumption-shifts that would cut their environmental impact. Others cited policy gaps, insufficient knowledge and established habits that prevented them from taking greater action.

Key services used for project

• Evidence review
• Sampling
• Quantitative
• Research tools design
• Data visualisation
• Report writing
• Questionnaire design

Key research method used for project

• Survey methods