When the Climate Institute has closed its doors, The Australia Institute was honoured to be selected to carry forward some of The Institute’s work as part of our new Climate & Energy Program.

One of the important initiatives being carried forward under The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program is the Climate of the Nation report on attitudes to climate change, released annually by the Climate Institute.

Huge amounts of research and data sat behind the Climate of the Nation report, which was based on based on a quantitative national attitudinal survey of 2,660 people, conducted by Galaxy, and qualitative research including eight focus groups conducted by Brand Central, taking in participants from Adelaide, greater western Sydney, Brisbane and greater Townsville .  

There has been strong interest in delving further into the quantitative data and so today we are releasing the report, prepared by Galaxy Research based on an online survey conducted between 12 April and 19 April 2017, and weighted according to the ABS’ demographics estimates.

It includes Galaxy’s summary of their findings, the full text of the survey and how it was coded, and detailed national tables of results. 

There has been strong in

terest in delving into the quantitative data in more detail and today we release that material for anyone interested to use, including the main findings and full results.

Many insights can be drawn from the full results, including —

• The news source most trusted when reporting on energy issues is ABC TV News, with 60% of Australians calling it a ‘trustworthy source’.

• Overall, the energy sources which ranked in Australians’ top three preference* are :
  • 79% Solar
  • 62% Wind
  • 50% Hydro [dams]
  • 26% Gas [21% in QLD, 39% in SA]
  • 26% Tidal/Wave
  • 20% Nuclear [26% male, 13% female]
  • 19% Geothermal
  • 18% Coal [21% in NSW, 21% in QLD, 8% in WA]
  * excludes 13% ‘don’t know’ respondents

• The majority of Australians want Australia to completely end coal-fired power within the next 20 years (61%). This includes 30% who want it completely ended within 10 years