Public support for renewable energy reaches new record high

The Government’s latest survey of public attitudes towards renewables and tackling climate change shows that 88% of people support using renewable energy – a new record high – and only 2% oppose it. 

When asked about individual technologies, 85% of people support offshore wind – another new record, beating the previous high if 84% set a year ago – and just 2% oppose it.

79% support onshore with only 4% opposing it. 84% support wave and tidal energy while just 1% oppose it. 74% of people say renewable energy provides economic benefits to the UK.

Welsh people have sent a clear message for their support of onshore wind with 51% saying they are happy for an onshore wind farm to be constructed in their local area.  Along with the South West of England, this is the highest percentage in the UK. 

The percentage of people in the UK who are concerned about climate change remains high at 83%, and the percentage of people who say they are “very concerned” has risen from 39% to 45%. The poll also shows the percentage of people aware of the concept of Net Zero remains high at 90%.

RenewableUK Cymru’s Assistant Director, Manon Kynaston, said:

“Wales has been blessed with an abundance of renewable energy opportunities and we already know that most people want us to make more use of it and build more onshore and offshore wind farms to generate cheap power, increase our energy security and tackle climate change.

“We need to maximise the range of our homegrown clean power sources here in Wales to reach net zero and energy independence as fast as possible, so innovative technologies like floating wind, tidal stream and green hydrogen have important roles to play too.”

RenewableUK’s Chief Executive, Dan McGrail said:

“This sky-high level of public support needs to be reflected fully in Government policy and we are calling on Welsh Government to do all that it can to help make this happen.  This week the UK Government have started publishing crucial details of the next auction for contracts to generate clean power and a consultation on future rounds beyond that. It’s vital that we secure as much new capacity as possible in each annual auction round at prices which are sustainable – and that we do so in a way which enables our supply chain to grow throughout the country. So the new parameters need to be set carefully to boost confidence among investors.”

The latest BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker is available here