Climate change lags in urgent concerns of Pinoys – study

MANILA, Philippines — Despite living in one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, most Filipinos still do not identify climate change as the most urgent concern that governments, companies and people around the world should focus on.

The 2022 Climate Reality Barometer, conducted by Japanese multinational electronics company Epson, found that only 10.7 percent of the 1,005 Filipino respondents identified climate change as the most urgent issue.

Most Filipino respondents identified fixing the economy with 27.7 percent, followed by rising prices with 24.4 percent, tackling poverty (15.5 percent) and safeguarding against a future pandemic (12.7 percent) as among the most urgent issues.

Following climate change were improving equality of life with 4.3 percent, and the war in Europe, 2.6 percent.

The results of the study are somewhat similar to local surveys that showed inflation and unemployment as the most urgent concern of most Filipinos.

Epson noted that more respondents from other countries – such as France with 38 percent and Mexico with 34.1 percent – see climate change as the most pressing issue that needs to be addressed worldwide.

Despite this, the study found that Filipinos are among the most optimistic that a “climate disaster” would be averted in their lifetime.

Some 71.9 percent said they were optimistic (35.2 percent very optimistic, 36.7 percent somewhat optimistic) while 13.6 percent were pessimistic (10.8 percent somewhat pessimistic and 2.8 percent very pessimistic).

Meanwhile, 12.7 percent of Filipino respondents said they were neither optimistic nor pessimistic, while 1.7 percent said they do not believe that there is any risk of a climate disaster.

Epson said respondents in other countries were more pessimistic, particularly in Canada and Italy with 36.6 percent and 25.2 percent, respectively.

“The 2022 Epson Climate Reality Barometer shows progress, but also how short-term economic demands are in danger of distracting governments, businesses and individuals from imperative environmental action,” said Masako Kusama, president and director of Epson Philippines.

“As a global technology leader, our duty is to refocus our efforts on developing solutions which will help reduce the environmental impact of our products. By working together, we at Epson believe that we can all inspire action and build a better future,” she added.

Addressing climate change

The online survey, conducted from July 29 to Aug. 8, also asked Filipino respondents about various actions that they do or plan on doing to tackle climate change.

Some 76.5 percent of the respondents said they already reduce plastic use followed by improving recycling habits  with 70.1 percent, using more reusable goods (69.2 percent), walking or cycling more often (67.1 percent), travel to the office less (47.3 percent), switch to more sustainable products (45.9 percent) and less international travel for business and leisure (37.6 percent).

Fewer Filipinos said they adopted a plant-based diet with 39.1 percent, encouraged workplace to commit or further its net zero strategy (27.3 percent), switched to renewable energy (25.1 percent), installed solar panels (22.3 percent), boycotted an unsustainable brand (20.5 percent) and switched to an electric vehicle (17 percent).

More than half of respondents said they plan to do the following in the future: install solar panels with 67.4 percent, switch to renewable energy (58.8 percent), switch to an electric vehicle (55.6 percent) and encourage workplace to commit or further its net zero strategy (50.9 percent).