Eco-conscious Brits fear their own actions won’t make a difference to climate change, survey reveals

MILLIONS of Brits don’t think their personal actions will make a difference to climate change.

A study of 2,000 adults found 35 per cent consider global warming to be the biggest issue facing the world today – ahead of the COVID pandemic (18 per cent) and poverty (15 per cent).

But while 80 per cent ‘care’ about environmental issues, 46 per cent don’t feel equipped to reduce their impact.

And even if they did, one in 10 don’t think their actions would make a difference.

It also emerged that 30 per cent don’t believe politicians care enough about the issue of climate change to implement and vote for laws which will tackle the problem.

Hannah Rouch for Gumtree UK, which commissioned the research to launch it’s ‘Waste-less Winter’ campaign said: "It’s clear that big businesses and the Government need to take the issue of climate change more seriously.

"It can be hard to see how your personal efforts will make a difference when they see pollution and waste on such a huge scale, so they are looking to large corporations to set an example.

"But it’s also important to realise that all actions, however small, can make a difference – it soon becomes a big action if millions of people join together to do the same thing."

The study also found that nearly half (51 per cent) claim recent events such as COP 26 and the launch of the Government Net Zero Strategy has made them consider environmental and climate issues more seriously.

Although one in seven (14 per cent) admitted the opposite is true, while nearly one in 10 said they weren’t sure what COP 26 even was.