Young Germans consider climate most important issue – survey
Clean Energy Wire
Germans aged 14 to 22 rated environment and climate protection as the most important issue in an online survey by the environment ministry (BMU) and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). Forty-five percent said environment and climate protection is "very important" and 33 percent "rather important”. Only 15 percent said industry is doing "enough" for environment and climate protection, while 22 percent said this is also true for the government. Asked about who can contribute most to climate protection in Germany, respondents put "each and every person" on top of the list – although only 21 percent saw the individual's current contribution as enough. Eighty percent of young Germans said they are familiar with the climate action movement Fridays for Future and almost a quarter have already taken part in its activities.
For months, the Fridays for Future climate strikes have brought students to the streets across Europe to demand more action on climate change. In Germany, thousands of students have taken part in protests since at least December 2018 and chancellor Angela Merkel has acknowledged that the student protest movement has pushed the government to speed up its decision-making process and act more resolutely on climate change.
