EIB survey finds fair grasp of climate change consequences among Romanians, room for improvement on solutions

Romanians have some awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change, but there’s still room for improvement when it comes to their knowledge about solutions, according to the sixth edition of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Climate Survey.

The survey had over 30,000 respondents across 35 countries, including the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan, India, and Canada.

To assess the public’s understanding of climate change in Romania, the EIB Climate Survey focused on people’s knowledge of climate change in three key areas: definitions and causes, consequences, and solutions. Participants answered 12 questions and were ranked on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest level of knowledge.

Romanian respondents scored 5.77/10, placing them well below the EU average of 6.37/10, according to the EIB survey. Finland leads the scoreboard with 7.22/10, followed by Luxembourg (7.19/10) and Sweden (6.96/10).

“Romanians have some awareness of the causes and consequences of climate change but lack knowledge about solutions. Similarly to the findings in most EU countries, a large share of Romanian respondents did not know that reducing speed limits on roads (80%) or better insulating buildings (65%) can help combat climate change,” reads the survey’s findings.

The survey’s first sub-index focuses on the definition and causes of climate change. In this area, Romanians scored far below the EU average (6.83/10 compared to 7.21/10), EIB revealed.

For example, when it came to defining climate change, most Romanian respondents (70%) selected the correct definition (“A long-term shift in global climate patterns”), and only 5% believe that climate change is a hoax.

At the same time, roughly three-quarters (72%) are also aware that the leading causes of climate change are human activities such as deforestation, agriculture, industry, and transport. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of the respondents believe otherwise, with 20% thinking it is caused by extreme natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions and heatwaves and 9% believing that climate change is caused by the ozone hole.

When asked about the three biggest greenhouse gas emitters worldwide, most Romanians (64%, but 8 percentage points below the EU average) correctly selected the United States, China, and India. However, over a third (36%) of respondents still chose an answer that did not include China.

The same, when asked about the consequences of climate change, Romanians again scored only 6.90/10, well below the EU average of 7.65/10.