Public opinion on renewables has remained high throughout 2020 with 80% stating they now support renewable generation.
This is according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) latest public attitudes tracker, which found that only 3% of people oppose renewables.
The most favourable technology came out as solar, with 85% of the public supporting it, followed by wave and tidal (79%), offshore wind (77%) and onshore wind (73%), with the latter being a slight increase from the 69% in favour of the technology in March’s survey.
Commenting on the figures, Melanie Onn, deputy chief executive of RenewableUK, said: “The sky-high level of public support in this latest poll chimes with the Prime Minister’s announcement that he wants every UK home to be powered by offshore wind by 2030.”
The new public attitude figures show a high level of public support for green growth, with 82% of the public now being concerned about climate change, up from 78% in May’s survey and 81% in August.
There has also been an increase in the awareness of the net zero target, with 66% of the public now aware compared to 63% in August and 52% in May.
“We can build back better after COVID-19 by putting onshore and offshore wind at the heart of our modern energy system, alongside innovative technologies like renewable hydrogen, floating wind and marine power. Our world-class clean-tech industries are bringing billions in private investment to the UK at the very time when we need to create new jobs most,” Onn added.
The government yesterday (12 November) unveiled a new Green Jobs Taskforce that is set to support the creation of 2 million jobs, with an action plan to be formed that will assess how the UK jobs market and the skills sector will adapt to net zero.
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