Climate protection is the most important concern for 15 to 35 year olds. This is shown by a new Europe-wide survey on behalf of the human rights organization Südwind and 16 partner organizations from 13 countries. In Austria, 55 percent of respondents see climate change as the greatest global challenge, followed by environmental degradation (44 percent).
Three quarters are of the opinion “that we cannot maintain our consumption habits if we want to protect the environment at the same time”. Südwind sees the survey results as a clear mandate to politicians for more ambition in climate protection and for a change towards a socially and ecologically just economic system. Because young people know that they will be „the main victims of the climate crisis,“ said Südwind spokeswoman Isabella Szukits.
NGO calls for climate justice pact
More than half of the respondents are also of the opinion „that it should be possible for people to migrate to Austria in order to flee from extreme weather and environmental changes“. Because those who have hardly contributed to the climate crisis are particularly hard hit by the effects, says Szukits.
As part of the “Climate Of Change” initiative, Südwind and its partner organizations are calling for a political climate justice pact. In addition to consistently adhering to the Paris climate protection goals, this must also include a rethinking of economic policy. The survey was carried out by the market research company Ipsos between October 29 and November 19, 2020 in 23 European countries. A total of 22,377 people were interviewed, in Austria it was 1,019.
