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With London Climate Action Week underway, new More in Common polling finds that low trust in both energy companies and the government is leading the public to increasingly believe that corporate greed, rather than what is right for the British public, is driving energy policy - undermining trust in the climate transition.
With the cost of living having consistently registered as the top issue of public concern since the pandemic - the public are clear where they place the blame for rising bills.
By a significant margin, ‘greed of energy company bosses’ is seen as the top reason for high energy bills in the UK (selected by half of Britons - 51%), followed by international events like the war in Ukraine (selected by 36%). Only 15% blame net-zero targets.
Both Reform, Liberal Democrat and Labour voters name ‘greed of energy company bosses’ as the number one reason for high energy bills in the UK.
In fact, the public are over twice as likely to think renewable energy will make energy bills cheaper than fossil fuels. 40 per cent of the public say that their energy bills will be cheaper if they come from renewable energy such as wind and solar, whereas just 17 per cent say they will be cheaper coming from oil and gas.
Notably, a further 42 per cent think that it makes ‘no difference’ or they are unsure on whether renewables will make their bills cheaper or more expensive. It is these Britons that it is likely the net zero debate will be fought over.
Despite the fact that people tend to think renewable energy will lower their bills, Britons are increasingly convinced that energy company bosses are influencing the direction of energy companies to push their own profits.
For example 52 per cent say it is more likely than not that Governments delay climate action because they are heavily influenced by fossil fuel lobbyists. 9 per cent say that is definitely true.
53 per cent say it is more likely than not that big oil companies are secretly funding climate denial to protect their profits, 10 per cent say that is definitely true.
But this scepticism isn’t limited to fossil fuel companies:
62 per cent say it is at least possible renewable energy companies are pushing the climate agenda because they stand to make huge profits. 16 per cent say this is definitely true.
Similarly, 40 per cent think it is at least possible that the government is only encouraging people to get electric cars to help boost the profits of car companies. 8 per cent say this is definitely true.
All of these theories are more likely to be believed by people in financial difficulty - people who say they are struggling financially are twice as likely to say it’s definitely true that electric car policies only exist to raise money for companies, and 9 percentage points more likely to say it is definitely true that renewable energy companies are pushing the climate agenda because they stand to make huge profits.
A further issue weakens the public's ability to trust energy companies to handle the climate transition fairly: a failure to tell the story of Britons about the progress the UK has made so far. Despite the UK having reduced emissions by 52 per cent since 1990 - just 26 per cent think that Britain’s climate policies have actually made a difference to reducing Britain’s emissions and only 22 per cent think that Britain’s climate policies have made a meaningful difference to tackling climate change.
This perception that Britain has made no progress risks driving a sense of hopelessness about tackling climate change, itself undermining support for transition and furthering the public’s belief that energy policy is designed around energy companies not the environment.
We'll be discussing these insights and more new polling on public attitudes to climate and the environment in our webinar on Tuesday.
