Understanding Society will be launching its 12th annual Insights report at the event. The report covers two major themes relevant to a future general election: what shapes political participation in the UK; and what is evidence telling us about building a shared transition to net zero. This is a policy and practitioner event, not an academic one.
Half the emissions reductions identified to reach Net Zero actively involve people, whether by choosing to purchase low-carbon technologies like electric cars, or by making different choices, for example on their diets or air travel. It is thus vital to understand how best to secure public support and participation in this politically and economically challenging transition. This second Understanding Society Insights 2024 virtual event takes a closer look at public support or opposition to climate change – in what has been described as the decade for action.
People’s attitudes to climate change and their willingness to pay for the transition to Net Zero has been boiling up the agenda in light of the cost of living crises, higher energy costs, and as we approach a general election. As the Climate Change Committee, UK’s independent adviser on tackling climate change, has pointed out, to transition to Net Zero by 2050 there will be a need for a “major nationwide investment programme led by government but largely funded and delivered by the private sector and individuals”.
How are views changing across time, and how effective are environmental protests or weather events in raising public awareness of the severity or imminence of the environmental crises? Even if public understand the need to tackle climate change urgently, and support Net Zero by 2050, are they attaching different levels of risk to the impact of climate change? With strong fairness and equality dimensions to design in, how important are economic circumstances and economic conditions in explaining support for or opposition to mitigation and adaptation policies? How socially just are taxes on air travel?
Programme*
09.30 – 09.40 Welcome and introduction
Raj Patel, Associate Director of Policy, Understanding Society
09.40 – 11.00 Research presentations
How is understanding of climate change risks changing amongst the population? – Ting Liu, The Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, University of Manchester
Do protests influence environmental attitudes? Evidence from Extinction Rebellion – Yiannis Kountouris, Lecturer in Economics and the Environment, Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London
Climate change mitigation policies and the role of economic insecurity – Silvia Mendolia, Senior Research Fellow, Economics, University of Turin
How socially just are taxes on air travel and ‘frequent flyer levies’? – Milena Buchs, Professor of Sustainable Welfare, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds and Giulio Mattioli, Research Fellow at the Department of Transport Planning at TU Dortmund University (Germany) and Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds.
11.00 – 11.15 Online break
11.15 – 12.00 Building a shared public journey
Panel discussion:
- Helena Bennett, Head of Climate Policy, Green Alliance
- Malini Mehra, Chief Executive of GLOBE International and member of the London Sustainable Development Commission
- Bea Natzler, People & Business Team Leader, the Climate Change Committee
*Programme subject to changes
