Human Development Report - Croatia 2008 Public Perceptions/ Knowledge about Climate Change^232.1. Introduction
Public involvement is critical to an effective response
to climate change. A public that is well-informed and
educated about climate-related threats and mea-
sures to address them is crucial because the process
of mitigation and adaptation cannot happen without
changes in individual behaviour and sufficient public
support for political decisions. This chapter evaluates
public knowledge, willingness to act, and support for
policies that reduce emissions and increase Croatia’s
ability to adapt to climate change. Understanding the
level of public support for these measures can provide
helpful information for decision-makers in the public
and private sectors about which policies to pursue.
Should the Government aggressively pursue mitiga-
tion policies? Should it be aggressive in addressing
risks from climate change by moving forward with ad-
aptation? Should businesses, especially large emitters
like energy companies, include emission reductions in
their marketing – potentially providing “Green Energy”
programmes or carbon offsets programmes? Should
public education be expanded to ensure basic public
knowledge about climate change? How much is the
public “willing to pay” and “willing to act” to reduce
the risks of climate change? These are all questions
that this section hopes to address before examining
the more technical aspects of climate change mitiga-
tion and adaptation.
For the purposes of this Report, UNDP Croatia carried
out the first comprehensive national public survey on
public attitudes towards climate change in Croatia.I In
examining the results of the survey it should be noted
that this kind of survey often shows a social desirability
bias because the results are the product of self-assess-
ment; i.e. respondents may tell the interviewer what
they think they “should” say when reporting opinions
or behaviour.^1 To provide a baseline, the evaluation
compares some results with other surveys regarding
climate change and similar topics in Croatia and in
other countries, including a recent EU-wide survey.^2
Using results from other research, the UNDP Global
Human Development Report on climate change con-
cludes that “public attitudes continue to be dominated
by a mindset that combines apathy and pessimism.”^3
Croatians, on the other hand, seem more proactive
in their attitudes towards climate change. Research
shows that public concern about climate change is
not necessarily dependent on wealth and scientific
knowledge,^4 nor is apathy and pessimism equally
distributed between populations.^5 Overall, the public
concern among Croatians and their willingness to act
could be a major factor in pushing forward climate
change mitigation policies.2.2. Levels of awareness and
concern about the environment
and climate changeBy questioning people on their views related to the
environment and climate change, it is possible to
gauge the level of concern Croatians have for climate
change. This is crucial information for the Government
and others in order to ascertain how much public sup-
port there is for addressing climate change. It is also
important to know where people get their informa-
tion from and how much they actually know about
climate change. If the public is not concerned, then
perhaps the Government and other actors would be
justified in not taking a proactive stance. Similarly, if
the public is unaware of climate change issues and
needs to be made aware in order to reduce emissions,
this would also be helpful to know. The results of this
survey show that the public is, indeed, very concerned
about the environment and climate change.I The survey was conducted by AUDEO, a public opinion and market
research agency. AUDEO relied on telephone interviews of a randomly
selected sample of 1,000 Croatian citizens aged 14 and over with well-
balanced socio-demographic variables – including age, level of income,
education level, gender, and location of residence (See Annex 2)
The results of
this survey show
that the public
is, indeed, very
concerned about
the environment
and climate
change