A survey produced by the European Commission (EC), on behalf of the Directorate-General for Environment, shows that most Europeans think more needs to be done to protect the environment.

The ‘Eurobarometer’ survey, ‘Attitudes of European Citizens Towards The Environment’, was carried out by the TNS Opinion and Social network of the 28 member states of the European Union (EU) between 26 April and 11 May.

It comes three years after the previous report on attitudes towards the environment (in 2011) and uses data collected from 27,998 respondents ‘from different social and demographic groups’ conducted through face to face interviews in their native language.

According to the report, there is no indication that Europeans’ concerns over the environment have ‘diminished’ since 2011 when the data was last collected. This is despite the recent financial crisis, which, the report suggests, may in fact have led to citizens ‘using resources more efficiently, for cost, as well as the environment’.

However, a ‘substantial majority’ of people (77 per cent of respondents), believe that big companies and industry are not doing enough to protect the environment. A ‘tiny’ minority, just one per cent, think they are doing too much and 15 per cent said they are doing the right amount.

Further, seven out of ten people (70 per cent) think their national government is not doing enough to protect the environment. Again, one per cent thinks their government is doing too much and just over one fifth (21 per cent) believe they are doing the right amount.

The survey also found that around two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents think that citizens themselves could be doing more to care for the environment (two per cent think they are doing too much while nearly three out of ten (29 per cent) say citizens are doing the right amount).

Czechs are most concerned about waste

Unlike in 2011 when climate change was the area Europeans were the most concerned about (climate change was not an option in this Eurobarometer report), the ‘most acute concerns’ about the environment now relate to pollution of both air and water.

Indeed, more than half of the respondents said that they are worried about air pollution (56 per cent), with 50 per cent highlighting water pollution as a major concern.

Over four out of ten people are worried about the impact on health of chemicals used in everyday products (43 per cent) and about the growing amount of waste (43 per cent).

Of all Europeans, residents of the Czech Republic are most concerned about waste, with 61 per cent of respondents stating it as one of the biggest environmental concerns. Respondents in Hungary (59 per cent), Finland (57 per cent), Croatia (55 per cent) and Slovakia (55 per cent) also cited it as a major concern.

At the other end of the scale, Spaniards are least concerned about the growing waste pile (30 per cent stating they were concerned), followed closely by those in the Netherlands (32 per cent).

Despite the growing waste pile being the third issue Europeans are most worried about in relation to the environment (tied with use of chemicals in products), separating recycling from waste is the most common action respondents take for ‘environmental reasons’.

In total, 72 per cent said they separate their waste for recycling for environmental reasons, with 92 per cent of respondents in Luxembourg saying they did this. Just 23 per cent of those in Bulgaria said they do this for environmental reasons.

Reducing waste was most common among respondents in Germany (52 per cent), Austria (49 per cent), and Belgium (44 per cent), but least common among those in Bulgaria (15 per cent) and Portugal (18 per cent)

Notably, while 10 per cent more Germans reduce waste now than they admitted to in 2011, most countries recorded the opposite trend, with particularly large declines in Slovenia (24 per cent less), Italy (17 per cent less) and the Netherlands (14 per cent less).

Other findings of the survey include:

• almost all Europeans say protecting the environment is very important to them personally, and over half say it is very important;
• over three-quarters of respondents feel that environmental problems have a direct impact on their daily lives;
• after recycling, Europeans consider the reduction of home energy consumption and the use of public transport to be the main priorities for protecting the environment; and
• three-quarters of Europeans say they are willing to pay a little more for environmentally-friendly products, up from 72 per cent in 2011.

Speaking of the findings, European Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, said: "It is good to see such solid and widespread support for the protection of the environment, even in difficult times.

“People are particularly concerned about air and water pollution, chemicals and waste, and they feel that more must be done by everyone to protect the environment."

Read the Eurobarometer survey on European attitudes to the environment.