The Anonymous Widower

ICE Report Shows Majority Open To Net Zero Changes

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Engineer.

This is the sub-heading.

A new report has found that a majority of the UK public is amenable to the behavioural changes needed to hit the country’s net zero targets.

These two paragraphs summarise the findings of the report.

Published by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure (APPGI), the report was based on a survey of 1,000 respondents. It found that 57 per cent were open to change, with 23 per cent described as net zero enthusiasts who were likely to have already altered their behaviours, and 34 per cent wanting change, but feeling they needed further empowerment to achieve it.

However, there is far from universal agreement when it comes to behavioural change around climate action. The report found that 30 per cent of people were ‘reluctant followers’, largely acknowledging that the UK must act on emissions, but not feeling personal responsibility for that action. This segment will likely only change their behaviours if forced to do so or seeing a majority of others doing it first. Finally, 13 per cent of those surveyed were classed as ‘net zero resistors’, people who don’t believe action is necessary and have no intention of doing so.

Summing the figures up gives us.

• Net-Zero Enthusiasts – 23 %
• Wanting Change – 34 %
• Reluctant Followers – 30 %
• Net-Zero Resistors – 13 %

All politicians should be forced to read the full report.

What Would I Need To Do To Achieve a Personal Net-Zero?

My circumstances probably cover a lot of people.

• I am a widow living alone.
• My house is well-insulated with solar-panels on the roof, but heated by gas.
• I don’t have or need a car.
• I do nearly all my shopping by public transport and carry it home.
• When I go away in the UK I use trains.
• If I go to Europe, I either go or come back by train.
• I am coeliac, which means I need to eat some meat to stay healthy.

My largest carbon-emitted is probably my house, but it would be unsuitable for most current solutions.

I would put myself in the Wanting Change group, but I could move to a Net-Zero Enthusiast, if the right technology came along.

• I have seen one bolt-in electric replacement for by boiler and when the right one arrives, I’ll probably fit one.
• An affordable battery to work to with my solar panels and also allow me to use Off Peak electricity would be nice.
• As I’m coeliac, I tend to buy in the same food each week from Marks and Spencer to eat in. I might be able to cut my carbon footprint by getting Ocado to deliver. Especially, as some deliveries seem to be bike.
• If TfL decarbonised the bus, that I use most days to and from Moorgate would that lower my carbon footprint?

I suspect the largest amount of carbon outside of my house’s heating, that I’ll emit, will be tomorrow, when I take a train to Newquay.

How Do We Convert The 13 % Net-Zero Resistors?

The recent protests by French and Belgian farmers indicate, that these farmers are probably in this group. And there are other forthright groups!

The only way, that they’ll be converted, is if technology allows them to earn the same amount of money and have the same outgoings, as they do now!

February 8, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, World | Coeliac/Gluten-Free, Decarbonisation, Farming, Housing, Marks and Spencer, Moorgate Station, Ocado