Nearly three out of four people accept that the world's climate is changing but the proportion of sceptics in Britain has risen to 19%, an increase of 15% since 2005, a new survey of public attitudes to climate change and nuclear power has found.
The research, conducted by Cardiff University and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan, showed a marked decrease, from 91% to 72%, in the proportion of people who accepted that the Earth's climate was changing. But nearly two-thirds of people agreed that extreme weather events have become more frequent in Britain in the past 10 years. Of those people, 74% attributed this increased frequency to climate change.
Two years after the Fukushima accident in Japan, the study found that support for nuclear power in Britain had barely changed but had reached an all-time low in Japan. The proportion of British respondents who wanted to see nuclear power continued at current levels or increased rose marginally to 43% from 42% eight years ago, although fewer people said they wanted to see it phased out or shut down (50% in 2005, 47% in 2010 and 40% in 2013). The research found that fewer people than in 2005 were willing to accept the building of new nuclear power stations as part of efforts to tackle climate change.
In comparison, renewable energy was far more popular than nuclear or coal. Solar power was backed by 77% of people, and wind power by 64%. Across all forms of electricity generation, nuclear (34%), coal (33%) and oil (34%) were the least favoured. Support for wind power had declined significantly since 2005 when very few windfarms had been constructed and 82% were in favour of them.
In comparison with Britain, an overwhelming majority of the Japanese people questioned said they had completely lost trust in the safety and regulation of nuclear power after the accident. Some 76% of respondents wanted to see nuclear phased out gradually or immediately Just 17% of Japanese respondents said they were willing to accept the building of new nuclear power stations to tackle climate change, compared to 33% in 2007.
"British attitudes towards nuclear power have been surprisingly robust in the wake of the Fukushima accident, and trust in regulation has held up fairly well. However, in reality, nuclear power remains relatively unpopular as compared to renewable energy sources," said lead researcher Dr Wouter Poortinga of the Welsh school of architecture at Cardiff University.
"Our research shows that nuclear power has become very unpopular in Japan after the Fukushima accident. Public trust in the regulation of nuclear power is now at an all-time low. Instead most people would like to see the development of more solar and wind energy to replace nuclear power in the longer term," said Midori Aoyagi of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan.
"The Fukushima accident appears to have had a profound impact on public confidence in future electricity generation in Japan. The Japanese public is now less likely to think that any specific energy source will contribute to energy security in the future."