SINGAPORE – People in South-east Asia are becoming more knowledgeable about climate change, but political upheavals and economic concerns are distracting them from the sense of urgency around global warming.

At the same time, young people seem to be more apathetic about the crisis than older folks, a leading climate academic said based on recent surveys.

Since 2020, the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore has run the annual South-east Asia climate survey of regional attitudes about threats from climate change, and how best to tackle the crisis.

Over the past four years, doubts about whether humans are responsible for climate change have mostly dissipated.

In 2020, the institute asked respondents about the extent to which human activity was causing climate change – whether it was not responsible, partially responsible or mainly responsible.

A majority of respondents in all Asean nations said human activity was mainly responsible.

“We’ve completely dropped that question,” said Ms Sharon Seah, senior fellow and coordinator at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s Asean Studies Centre and Climate Change in South-east Asia Programme. She said it was undeniable that humans were causing climate change.

Ms Seah’s team runs the annual survey, the latest edition of which was published in September.

The institute received 2,225 responses to an online questionnaire in July and August from people in 10 Asean member states, ranging from academics, students and retirees, to individuals in governments, think-tanks and civil society.

Despite record global heat extremes, wildfires and flooding in recent months, Ms Seah said just under half, or 49.4 per cent, of those surveyed felt climate change posed an immediate threat.

This is down from nearly 69 per cent in the 2021 survey, but up slightly from 46.6 per cent in 2022.

“Very clearly, it’s not top of mind. Why? Because in the region we are seeing a lot of changes,” she said, pointing to recent and upcoming elections and political uncertainty.

There is also a lot of worry in the region after the pandemic, such as over greater social and income inequalities. This is further compounded by inflationary pressures, rising interest rates and economic disruptions, especially related to the political competition between the United States and China, she said.

One of the most striking trends was the passivity of youth respondents, she said.

“Since we started the survey, and even before, I think the assumption that’s very prevalent is that the youth are the ones who are more concerned, more engaged, more active. But really, some of the results have shown the contrary.”

The 2023 survey asked respondents to what extent they thought climate change impacts would negatively affect their lives in 10 years’ time.

“Young people are surprisingly the most passive, with 34.6 per cent saying that it will greatly affect them in 10 years, and it’s a drop from last year’s 49 per cent,” she said.

Of those polled who were above age 60, 54.3 per cent felt climate change would greatly affect them.

A similar result was observed in response to a question on whether Asean should stop building new coal-fired plants. Ms Seah said young people expressed greater uncertainty as compared with those over 60, who “expressed the greatest support for not building new coal (powered plants)”.

Possible reasons for the results include the growing economic uncertainties young people face.

“They’re more concerned about jobs, education, they are under tremendous social media stress and distress,” she said.

Some were also concerned about less upward mobility – the plateauing of their economic well-being. 

It is an area that needs further study, she said.

Also surprising was that older respondents showed strong concern about climate change.

“They are saying, ‘Look, it’s going to impact me personally, and we need to stop doing it’.” The assumption, Ms Seah added, has been that older workers or retirees did not care as much about the climate crisis, yet the results show otherwise.

“Another key trend we see is that people know about the energy transition that governments are working towards in the region. But the respondents don’t know what it will look like, how it will really affect them,” she said.

Respondents understood that it could affect their cost of living, having experienced a spike in energy costs since 2021, which was exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Asked what their top concern was about transitioning to renewable energy or cutting fossil fuels, 54.2 per cent cited rising energy prices and cost of living, while 21.7 per cent cited energy shortages.

Yet, respondents clearly support cleaner energy.

Among respondents to the 2023 survey, 51.1 per cent wanted fossil fuel subsidies cut in their country, and 80.6 per cent said solar was the clean energy source with the greatest potential. Hydropower was supported by 45.6 per cent of respondents.

About 65 per cent of respondents also supported phasing out coal immediately or by 2030.

“I think people generally have positive perceptions about the transition from using fossil fuels to more sustainable energy sources,” Ms Seah said.

But she added that people in South-east Asia needed to be better informed about the costs, with wind and solar power now cheaper than fossil fuels.

Across the region, government subsidies for fossil fuels made them look cheaper than they really are, she said.