Australians overwhelmingly want an energy system dominated by renewables

When the Climate Institute closed its doors, The Australia Institute was honoured to be selected to carry forward some of the Climate Institute’s work and so our new Climate & Energy Program was born.

One of the important initiatives being carried forward under The Australia Institute’s Climate & Energy Program is the Climate of the Nation polling and research report released annually by the Climate Institute.

The Climate of the Nation 2017 report was based on qualitative data from eight focus groups in Adelaide, Brisbane, Parramatta and Townsville and quantitative data from a survey of 2,660 Australians across the country.

There has been strong interest in delving into the quantitative data in more detail and today we release that material for anyone interested to use, including the main findings and full results.

Many insights can be drawn from the full quantitative data and results, including —

• The news source most trusted when reporting on energy issues is ABC TV News, with 60% of Australians calling it a ‘trustworthy source’.
• Overall, the energy sources which ranked in Australians’ top three preference* are :
  • 79% Solar
  • 62% Wind
  • 50% Hydro [dams]
  • 26% Gas [21% in QLD, 39% in SA]
  • 26% Tidal/Wave
  • 20% Nuclear [26% male, 13% female]
  • 19% Geothermal
  • 18% Coal [21% in NSW, 21% in QLD, 8% in WA]
  * excludes 13% ‘don’t know’ respondents
• The majority of Australians want Australia to completely end coal-fired power within the next 20 years (61%). This includes 30% who want it completely ended within 10 years.

Download the full Climate of the Nation 2017 report here

Download the detailed quantitative polling behind the Climate of the Nation report here

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