Climate change and energy
Climate change
Despite a fractious Australian political debate on climate change over the past two decades, overall, Australians’ sense of urgency in addressing climate change has remained relatively high since 2018. This aligns with roughly steady threat perceptions of climate change over the same period.
In 2024, a majority of Australians (57%) say ‘global warming is a serious and pressing problem’ about which ‘we should begin taking steps now, even if this involves significant costs’. Three in ten (30%) say ‘the problem of global warming should be addressed, but its effects will be gradual, so we can deal with the problem gradually by taking steps that are low in cost’. Only 12% take the view that ‘until we are sure that global warming is really a problem, we should not take any steps that would have economic costs’. All results are steady from 2023.
Climate change
Now about global warming. There is a controversy over what the countries of the world, including Australia, should do about the problem of global warming. Please indicate which of the following three statements comes closest to your own point of view.
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Indicates change in mode: see 2024 Methodology.
There remains a significant gap between younger and older Australians on this issue, though the gap has narrowed slightly compared with last year. Almost three-quarters (73%) of Australians aged 18–29 say global warming is a serious and pressing problem, compared with 51% of those aged over 60.
Political leaning is strongly correlated with how Australians answer this question. Seven in ten (71%) of those who lean towards Labor say global warming is a serious and pressing problem, compared to only 29% of those who lean towards the Liberal–National Coalition. Among the latter group, the most prevalent view (48%) is to deal with the problem gradually by taking steps that are low in cost.
Energy policy priorities
In the context of rising energy prices and high cost-of-living pressures in Australia, almost half of Australians (48%) now say that ‘reducing household energy bills’ should be the main priority for the government’s energy policy, a sharp 16-point rise from a similar question in 2021. The number of Australians who say that ‘reducing carbon emissions’ should be the main priority has fallen 18 points to 37%, no longer the leading response. ‘Reducing the risk of power blackouts’ remained relatively low as a priority, gaining three points to 15%.
In 2019 and 2021, this question asked about ‘reducing household bills’. In those years, the framing of the question did not include reference to ‘electricity and gas’ specifically.
Renewable energy
The Australian government has set a national target to generate 82% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The largest share of Australians (41%) think this target is ‘about right’. For the remainder, one-third (33%) of Australians say the renewable energy target is ‘too ambitious’, while one-quarter (25%) say it is ‘not ambitious enough’.
Australian renewable energy target
Now for a question about renewable energy sources such as solar or wind. The current federal Labor government has set a national Australian target for 82% of electricity to be generated through renewables by 2030. Do you think Australia’s target to transition to renewable energy is…
Nuclear power
Australia’s federal opposition has announced that, if elected, it would look to introduce nuclear power generation into Australia’s energy mix, alongside renewables and other sources of energy, as part of its plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Public opinion towards nuclear power in Australia has shifted over time. This year, in response to a new question, six in ten Australians (61%) say they ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ support Australia using nuclear power to generate electricity, while a significant minority (37%) ‘somewhat’ or ‘strongly’ oppose it. Those who ‘strongly support’ nuclear power generation (27%) outnumber those who ‘strongly oppose’ it (17%).
In contrast, more than a decade ago in 2011, in response to a related question in this Poll, more than six in ten Australians (62%) said they were either ‘strongly against’ (46%) or ‘somewhat against’ (16%) ‘Australia building nuclear power plants as part of its plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions’.
Nuclear energy
Now a question about nuclear power. Do you support or oppose Australia using nuclear power to generate electricity, alongside other sources of energy?
Potential climate policies
In 2024, Australians express slim to strong majority support for a range of potential federal government climate-related policies. However, compared to the last time this question was asked in 2022, support has softened mildly for a range of options including a more ambitious national emissions reduction target, hosting a UN climate conference, reducing coal exports, and banning new coal mines, and more notably for introducing an emissions trading scheme. Support remained steady for subsidising renewable technologies, and increasing the use of gas.
Led by the 2022 US Inflation Reduction Act, a number of countries have announced significant subsidies for the development of clean energy technology. In April 2024, following fieldwork for this Poll, the Albanese Labor government announced plans to subsidise renewables production in Australia. The vast majority of Australians (87%) say they would support the government ‘providing subsidies for the development of renewable energy technologies’, steady from 2022 (90%).
Seven in ten Australians (72%) support committing ‘to a more ambitious national emissions reduction target’, down five points from 2022. Under the Paris Agreement on climate change, countries are due to submit to the United Nations an updated 2035 emissions reduction target by 2025.
In 2022, this question asked about ‘Committing to a more ambitious emissions reduction target for 2030’. This question was fielded in a separate Lowy Institute nationwide poll in April 2022: see 2022 Methodology for more information.
Australia is bidding to co-host the UN’s annual climate conference of the parties (COP) in 2026, in partnership with other Pacific Islands nations. This initiative appears to have widespread support among Australians (70%), though this figure is down five points from 2022.
Two-thirds of Australians (68%) support ‘making it easier for the citizens of climate-vulnerable countries to migrate to Australia’, in line with support for improving visa access for Pacific Islanders. In November 2023, the Australian and Tuvalu governments announced the Falepili Union, a deal that provides a pathway for Tuvaluans to migrate permanently to Australia in the face of climate change, while further entrenching Australia as Tuvalu’s primary security partner.
A majority of Australians (63%) are also in favour of ‘providing financial support to help developing countries in our region manage the impacts of climate change’. In late 2023, Australia announced it would rejoin the Green Climate Fund, pledging a $50 million contribution.
A majority continue to support reducing coal exports to other countries (60%) and banning new coal mines (59%). While this constitutes a drop of five and four points respectively on 2022 results, it still represents a decisive swing away from more positive public sentiment towards coal less than a decade ago. In 2016, in response to a different question, a majority (66%) said Australia should continue to export coal to developing countries.
In contrast to attitudes towards coal, majority support (58%) remains for ‘increasing the use of gas for Australia’s energy generation’, level with 2022.
Slightly more than half of Australians (55%) support introducing an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax, a drop of nine points since 2022. While an economy-wide emissions trading scheme is no longer under active debate in Australian politics, the government’s reformed Safeguard Mechanism does allow for emissions trading as part of a system to curb emissions in high-emitting industries.