Survey finds only 15% here aware of net-zero emissions target

But two-thirds of respondents keen to contribute when told about country’s goal

- Cheryl Tan

A nationwide survey has found that only 15 per cent of respondents were aware of Singapore's target of getting to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but nearly twothirds expressed strong interest to contribute when informed about the goal.

More than half of the respondents were already taking climatefriendly actions, such as setting the air-conditioner temperature to at least 25 deg C, and cutting back on single-use plastics. But many were resistant towards changes that require more effort, like eating less meat and reducing air travel.

The study was done in 2023 among some 2,300 people aged 15 and above to understand their attitudes towards Singapore's net-zero target and its associated policies, as well as the actions they intended to take to support the target.

It was conducted by Lloyd's Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (Ipur) at NUS, the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at SUTD, and the Environmental Behavioural Sciences and Economics Research Unit of the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment.

Singapore's total emissions for 2021 - the latest data available was 53.7 million tonnes, with the key contributing sectors being industry (44.4 per cent), power (39.2 per cent) and transport (14.2 per cent).