Human-induced climate change has become a global and local problem of the highest order. In view of the effects that it is already causing, and those yet to come, a large number of citizens have started to demand measures to mitigate the worst consequences of climate change; in turn, many governments from different countries have positioned the fight against climate change as a priority and an important part of civil society is demanding urgent actions. In our most immediate environment, in addition, the majority of citizens consider that climate change is the result of human action, and the percentage of deniers stands at very low levels. 

This research aims to understand the opinions of Spanish citizens in relation with climate change, placing special emphasis above all on young people. As some people have pointed out, it seems that a certain generational confrontation exists with respect to what needs to be done to mitigate the consequences of climate change, given that the older generations have different preferences and temporal horizons to the younger ones. But is it really so? To what point and in what topics are there diverging attitudes in relation to climate change? 

To answer these research questions, in January 2023 a survey was conducted among 4,764 people, representatives of male and female citizens of Spain aged from 16 to 65. In order to respond to the questions raised regarding youth, there was oversampling of young people. Thus, 25.5% of the sample (1214 people) are people aged up to 32 years. Finally, the survey also incorporated quotas by sex (50% men and 50% women) and by education level (15% people with primary education). 

One of the first aspects analysed in the survey is the consideration that climate change is a phenomenon that is explained by the action of human beings. In Spain, some 65% of citizens believe that climate change is the result (solely or mainly) of human activity. This is the majority belief in all age groups, but young people, in comparison with older people, have a greater tendency to attribute climate change to human action. Thus, 71% of those aged between 16 and 32 years consider that climate change is a process resulting from human activity, a figure 9 percentage points higher than among people aged over 32 years. Nonetheless, it is important to highlight that between 2 and 3 out of 10 citizens consider that climate change is due to human questions and natural processes equally, a figure that could hide a certain scepticism with regard to the human origin of climate change. 

At one point in the survey, individuals are shown the five current main concerns of Spanish people (according to data from the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research, CIS), together with a mention of climate change – a concern that does not appear on the list of this the polling institute, which only contains problems of an economic nature, healthcare, immigration, corruption and politicians and parties. Next, the respondents are asked to list these six problems by order of importance. The exercise seeks to find out the relative priority attached by people to climate change with respect to the other concerns. 

As can be seen in the graph below, when focusing on age groups, fewer than 10% of respondents put climate change first in their list of priorities. In fact, one in every three respondents aged over 32 years situates it as the last of the six priorities. However, young people tend to attach greater importance to climate change in relative terms. For example, 42% of people aged between 16 and 25 years consider that climate change is one of the three main political problems today. 

A certain dichotomy has often been proposed between policies on climate change and the economy. There are even those who have gone further and posed it as a dilemma, in the sense that policies against climate change harm the economy and vice versa. What do Spanish citizens think of this potential dilemma? When people are asked to prioritise between the economy and climate change, the differences between age groups are relatively small. Thus, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 corresponds to prioritising the economy and 10 to prioritising climate change, all age groups are situated slightly above the average value – i.e., slightly more in favour of climate change. However, among the three age groups, young people aged up to 25 years state to a greater extent that it is more important to prioritise climate change: in fact, some 43% of them are at values above 5 – an identical percentage to young people aged 26 to 32 years – a figure that, in the case of older people, falls to 38%.  

Who should bear the cost of measures to tackle climate change? In short, who should pay more or adapt their habits to a greater extent? Aside from the debates about redistribution based on socioeconomic status, in recent years a political and ideological division has emerged based on age. Some sectors of society argue that older groups should be the ones who contribute more to the fight against climate change, given that they are the ones who caused it (or did not slow it down) and who, in a few years, when generational replacement occurs, will not have to bear its consequences. 

In the survey, respondents were asked who should make more effort to fight climate change: young people (value 0), older people (value 10), or both equally (value 5). The results indicate an important divergence in preferences according to age. Thus, young people aged 16 to 25 years consider that older people should make a greater effort to fight climate change, despite the average score being close to the halfway point on the scale (5), which attributes responsibility to both groups. In contrast, people aged over 32 years consider to a greater extent that young people are the ones who should make the most effort. These results point towards a different view to a certain public stereotype that has sometimes been associated with young people, who have been accused of not wanting to do enough for climate change. According to these data, young people, at least in relation to the effort needed, have a balanced view. In contrast, older people believe that it is young people who have to make more efforts to combat climate change.

This study has shown how 65% of the Spanish population considers that climate change is above all or solely the result of human activity, a percentage that increases to above 70% among young people. Climate change denialism in this sense represents a relatively low percentage of the population because in no case does it exceed 10%. Despite broad agreement on the existence of climate change, this is not yet a priority concern among the population. Only 30% of the total of Spanish people believe that climate change is one of the three most important problems facing Spain, a percentage that however increases to 41% among people aged 16 to 25 years and to 35% between those aged 26 to 32 years. Asked about whether they would prioritise the economy or the fight against climate change, all age groups tend to slightly prioritise climate change above the economy, a trend that is somewhat more marked among young people aged up to 25 years of age.

Finally, the study addressed the intergenerational debate to assess who respondents consider should make the most efforts to fight climate change. The survey illustrates how young people believe that both they and older people should make the same effort to combat climate change, while older respondents consider that the effort made by young people should be greater than their own. The final picture of the project is that of a divided stage, with lights and shadows. On the one hand it is undeniable that the citizens of Spain – and especially young people – consider that climate change is a real phenomenon with implications for the future; however, it is also undeniable that it is not yet perceived as one of the main problems facing Spain, especially in comparison with other issues. For example, in the dilemma of deciding between fighting climate change and focusing on the economy, a large part of the population still perceives that the two can be pursued at the same time.

The study contains certain limitations that any reader must take into account when evaluating attitudes towards climate change. Indeed, the survey was conducted in January 2023 and its conclusions therefore reflect Spanish public opinion at that time. The passage of time will probably blur the precision of the values obtained, especially if the consequences of climate change worsen, including increasingly frequent heat waves throughout the year, extreme weather events or historically unprecedented droughts. The development of climate change will probably go hand in hand with attitudes more favourable towards fighting it and growing concern.