Quarter of Romanians believe climate change is false, survey shows

Almost 70% of Romanians believe that climate change is a real phenomenon already visible worldwide, according to a survey conducted by INSCOP at the request of News.ro. More than a quarter of those surveyed consider it to be a false phenomenon.

To be exact, 68.9% of Romanians believe that climate change is real and has visible effects, while 26.1% hold the opposite view.

Those who believe that climate change is real and produces visible effects are mainly USR voters, young people under 30, people with higher education, white-collar workers, residents of Bucharest or large urban areas, and those with higher incomes.

Those who believe that climate change is not real are mainly far-right party AUR voters, people over 60, those with primary education, residents of small urban or rural areas, and those with lower incomes, the survey revealed.

In connection to the issue of climate change and environmental protection, respondents were asked if they usually return packaging to the store or collection centers to recover their paid deposit. 53.6% of survey participants said they always do this, 11.4% do it often, 13.2% rarely, 21.5% never, and 0.3% did not respond.

Those who said they never return packaging to the store or collection centers are mainly AUR voters, people over 60, those with primary education, inactive individuals, rural residents, and those with lower incomes. Those who said they always return packaging to the store or collection centers are mainly people aged 30-44, those with higher education, blue-collar or gray-collar workers, residents of the Central region, those with higher incomes, and private-sector employees.

Around 75% of people are satisfied with how the Deposit-Return System was implemented.

"Awareness of environmental issues is increasingly consistent in Romania, as evidenced by the evaluation of concrete behaviors such as participation in the Deposit-Return System. Over 50% of Romanians state that they return packaging to the store or collection centers, and three-quarters are satisfied or very satisfied with how the system has been implemented," says Remus Ștefureac, director of INSCOP Research.

The data was collected between June 19-27, 2024, using the CATI method (telephone interviews), with a stratified simple sample size of 1,100 people, representative of significant socio-demographic categories (gender, age, occupation) for the non-institutionalized population of Romania, aged 18 and over.