New research finds climate change beliefs increasingly predict public opposition to gas

A team of academics including ACCESS’s Lorraine Whitmarsh and Patrick Devine-Wright have presented new survey data finds that show the more serious climate change is perceived to be, and the more reliable evidence on climate change is thought to be, the more opposed respondents were to natural gas extraction in the UK. Climate change beliefs increasingly predict opposition to gas.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change, used repeat annual surveys of the same 1,000 UK residents from 2019-2022 to provide a robust estimate of changing public opinions over time.

This could have significant implications for extracting natural gas for use in the UK energy system.

Read more