Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1165935
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 SEPTEMBER 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO CLIMATE change is now regarded as the top "global problem" by a relative majority of Maltese – a concern that has overtaken international terrorism when this was seen as the world's top prob- lem in 2011 in a similar Eurobarometer survey. In a sign of growing environmental awareness, eight years ago just 13% of Maltese regarded climate change as the world's greatest problem. The percentage of Maltese who regard climate change as the top problem fac- ing the planet has now increased by 20 percentage points since 2011. And this was the largest increase regis- tered in the EU followed by an 18-point increase in Denmark and a 16-point in- crease in Germany. Moreover, only 1% of Maltese (com- pared to 6% of all Europeans) think that climate change is not a serious problem. Climate change is now considered the most serious problem by a relative ma- jority in eight countries in the EU, in- cluding Sweden (50%), Denmark (47%), Finland and Malta (33%). In five countries, international terror- ism remains the top global problem, while in Italy the economic situation is mentioned as the most serious prob- lem facing the world today. In Romania, poverty and the economic situation are equally mentioned. The Maltese are also the most likely in Europe to say that they have taken action to fight climate change in their everyday life. At a national level, the majority of re- spondents in 22 countries say they have personally taken action to fight climate change in the past six months. More than eight in ten respondents in Malta (88%), Sweden (84%), Finland (82%) and Luxembourg (81%) say this, compared to 29% in Romania, 32% in Bulgaria and 40% in Poland. Since 2011 the percentage of Maltese who have taken some form of action to combat climate change has increase by 24 points. This was the largest in- crease in Europe. When asked what action they have taken to combat climate change, 85% of Maltese say they have done so by reduc- ing or recycling their waste while 61% avoid single-use plastics. But the Mal- tese were the least likely in Europe to insulate their homes. Fewer than four in ten in each country say they have insu- lated their home better to reduce their energy consumption, with proportions ranging from 38% in Estonia to 5% in Malta. Yet again only 2% have taken action against climate change by buying an electric car, but 31% claim to use alter- natives to the private car like car-pool- ing, cycling and walking on a regular basis. Surprisingly, considering Malta's de- pendence on imported gas, 44% of Mal- tese totally agree that reducing fossil fuel imports from outside the EU can increase energy security and benefit the EU economically. At least four in ten respondents in Spain (50%), Ireland (47%), Malta (44%), and Portugal and Cyprus (both 40%), stand in contrast with fewer than one in five in Estonia (12%), Finland (15%) and Czechia (17%). jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Which is the world's greatest problem? Malta EU 28 Climate change 33% 23% Terrorism 27% 15% Poverty 15% 27% Population 9% 7% Economy 5% 12% Disease 5% 3% Wars 2% 8% Nuclear weapons 2% 4% Source: Eurobarometer In 2011, the Maltese saw terrorism as the world's top problem; now 33% of the country says it is climate change, and it tops the EU average Climate change is top global problem for Maltese A 25-acre fire near a California golf course: haunting images of life proceeding as normal despite the higher incidence of grassfires gobbling up forests from the effects of climate change could be colouring a new urgency about planetary warming