Climate change, climate change | EU study: One in four Norwegians does not think climate change is man-made

The study examined citizens’ attitudes toward climate research and climate change in six European countries. Norwegians are the most skeptical of the climate.

As many as 24 percent of Norwegians surveyed said they do not believe climate change is man-made. Only ten percent of Italians say the same.

The numbers correspond to the survey Bergens Tidende published in 2019, in which 22 percent said they believe climate change is a natural fluctuation.

– Thrilling

It is surprising that Norway emerged as the most climate skeptical country in the survey, Professor Katherine Holst and postdoctoral fellow Torbjorn Gundersen, both in the Department of Sociology and Social Geography at the University of Oslo, say in a statement.

The researchers noted that Norwegians in general have high confidence in researchers.

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– On the issue of climate, everything is turned upside down, as they say.

The EU study is part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme. In addition to Norway and Italy, Ireland, Poland, Germany and the UK are also included in the study.

A little fear of the climate in Norway

Only 49 percent of Norwegians believe that the temperature rise over the past century is greater than it has been in 1,000 years. For other countries, the same number is between 62 and 74 percent.

Your grass isn’t so green, Jenny

Norwegians are also the ones who have the highest confidence in oil companies. Only 29 percent think oil companies are hiding technology that could have made more cars run without petrol or diesel. For other countries, the same figure is about 50 percent.

It is also clear that the fewest Norwegians say they are now threatened by climate change. Only 16% said so, while another 40% said climate change would threaten them in the coming decades.

As many as 17 percent of Norwegians in the study say climate change will never threaten them.

18 percent say they are in no way concerned about climate change, which only 5 percent of Italians say.

Only 11 per cent of Norwegians said they are very worried, 35 per cent are somewhat worried, and many are not very worried.

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according to oil

Researchers at the University of Oslo will now look at the causation behind the numbers.

It’s hard to imagine that this pattern among Norwegians has anything to do with our dependence on oil, say Holst and Gundersen.

Our economy, our jobs and the finances of the welfare state are at risk, and so we in Norway have no immediate interest in sending bleak climate messages inside us, they say.