Who cares about climate change? Attitudes across the generations (in the UK)

Older people are just as likely as younger people to recognise the need for action on climate change and to say they’re willing to make big sacrifices to protect the environment, suggesting claims of a generational divide over the future of the planet may be exaggerated, according to a new UK study marking the publication of the book Generations by Professor Bobby Duffy. The research, by the Policy Institute at King’s College London and New Scientist magazine, finds that around seven in 10 people from all generations surveyed say climate change, biodiversity loss and other environmental issues are big enough problems that they justify significant changes to people’s lifestyles, with no real difference in agreement between Baby Boomers (74%) – the oldest generation polled – and Gen Z (71%), the youngest. Similarly, there are almost identical levels of agreement across the generations that people themselves are willing to make big changes to their own lifestyle to reduce the impact of climate change: there is virtually no difference between the proportion of Baby Boomers (68%), Gen X (66%), Millennials (65%) and Gen Z (70%) who say they’re prepared to make such a sacrifice.