Nearly half of Finns prepared to pay more to combat climate change
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Almost half of people in Finland approve of measures to mitigate climate change – even if it means additional costs for themselves, according to a survey published by the newspaper group Uutissuomalainen (USU).
The poll found that 48 percent of respondents would be prepared to pay more for efforts to rein in climate change, even if they result in higher costs of everyday living. Thirty-two percent said no, while about 20 percent were undecided or declined to state their views.
Jyri Seppälä, chair of the Finnish Climate Change Panel, told USU that the results were not surprising.
“Finns are highly conscious of climate change [as indicated by] an EU-wide survey on the topic. Most Finns want us to do our part in climate efforts,” he said.
Women are slightly more prepared to compromise their own standard of living than men, with 41 percent of men and 23 percent of women saying they do not support climate measures that increase day-to-day costs.
“These ‘no’ answers support the old assumption that women are more concerned about preserving life in the future than men,” Seppälä noted. In his assessment, many men may see controlling climate change as primarily being the responsibility of industry and the state.
Meanwhile older people are more ready to incur extra costs than younger ones, the survey suggests, with acceptance from just over half of those aged 60 or more.
“Younger people usually don’t have a lot of money, while parents may be thinking about what kind of world they will leave to their children and grandchildren,” Seppälä pointed out.
The results of the USU poll also indicate that individuals with higher education level are more likely to accept higher costs in order to combat global warming and other climate-related changes.
Seppälä suggested that the poll results might be different if climate measures were funded by raising overall taxes rather than mostly raising the cost of fossil fuel usage, noting that climate costs are not necessarily being shared fairly.
About 1,000 people in Finland responded to the USU survey, which was conducted by pollster Tietoykkönen between 9 and 30 July. The survey’s margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
