THE vast majority of Islanders think climate change is happening, according to a survey which also showed that over half of respondents believe that humans are to blame.
However, the survey, conducted by Island Global Research, which investigated Islanders’ beliefs about climate change and their levels of concern about it, also showed that scepticism had grown in the past five years.
The survey showed that 4% of Islanders did not believe that the climate was changing. Meanwhile, 7% accepted that it was changing, but did not believe that human activity was the cause.
In 2019, 4% of people believed humans were not to blame for climate change, and less than 1% believed the climate was not changing at all.
However, according to the latest report, the majority believe that human-made climate change is a reality. More than half of those surveyed said that human activity was mainly to blame for climate change and a third said human activity was partly to blame, alongside other factors.
There was more doubt over whether Jersey would be affected by climate change now or in the near future. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said it was already having an impact here, and a further 10% believed that it would during their lifetime.
But 16% said it would not happen during their lives but might affect future generations, while 11% maintained that it would never have an impact upon Jersey.
There was slightly more agreement on whether future generations would bear the brunt of climate change.
More than three-quarters of those surveyed said they believed that it would either affect future generations a great deal or moderately, while 9% said it would probably affect future generations a little. Eight per cent of respondents said they expected it to have no impact.
