The most important environmental issues according to citizens are climate change (53% in EU and 62% in Cyprus), air pollution (46% in EU and 52% in Cyprus) and the increasing amount of waste (46% in EU and 40% in Cyprus).
Meanwhile, citizens worry about the impact of environmental problems on their daily lives and health, with 78% of Europeans and 90% of Cypriots agreeing that they are directly impacted by such issues.
88% of Europeans and 92% of Cypriots are concerned about microplastics’ impact on the environment and a similar percentage (89% and 93% respectively) worry about pollution from plastics.
Citizens are also concerned about chemical substances in everyday products at a rate of 85% in the EU and 97% in Cyprus.
Asked on the most effective ways to resolve environmental problems, citizens mostly suggested changing the way we consume products (33% in EU and 43% in Cyprus) and changing the way we produce and sell products (31% in EU and 19% in Cyprus).
Four to five respondents (80% in EU and 76% in Cyprus) said that large businesses and industry are not doing enough to protect the environment and about two thirds (67% in EU and 71% in Cyprus) believe that citizens themselves are not doing enough.
72% of Europeans and 70% of Cypriots said that their national governments are not doing enough to safeguard the environment, while the same is believed for the EU level (68% and 40% respectively). More than half said their city or local authority is not doing enough (57% in EU and 63% in Cyprus).
70% of Europeans believe that environmental decisions should be taken jointly between EU member-states. The support for joint decisions is highest in Spain (86%), Cyprus (81%) and Belgium (81%) and lowest in the Czech Republic (54%), Romania (56%) and Poland (58%).
Source: In-Cyprus