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Press Release Europe’s post-millennial generation says climate change will be the world’s number one challenge over the next decade Climate and environmental threats also ranked third most important challenge today, according to research by Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company Masdar Marrakech, Morocco, November 16, 2016 – Eighteen to 25-year-olds in Europe say that climate change and the environment will be the world’s biggest challenge over the next 10 years, according to research by Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. The landmark study, which questioned nearly 5,000* post-millennial youth – the demographic cohort known as ‘Generation Z’ – in 20 countries, also found that European young people think that climate change and the environment are the second most serious problem facing the world today, alongside poverty/inequality. The ‘threat of terrorism’ ranked first. When young people in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain were asked to name the world’s biggest challenges over the next decade, climate change and the environment ranked top alongside terrorism, followed by poverty/inequality, the economy, unemployment and immigration. The ‘Masdar Gen Z Global Sustainability Survey’, unveiled at the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Morocco, interviewed 5,000* young people across the Middle East & North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia. Countries were also classified according to their economic development as either developed, emerging or frontier. European Post-Millennials are less likely than their counterparts in other parts of the world to think that business and government share equal responsibility to develop clean technology and renewable energy. But three in four young Europeans still argue that the responsibility should be shared and overall, they want to see their government spending more to make renewable energy more effective and available. Young Europeans are also more confident in their own personal ‘greenness’ than the rest of the developed world, according to the study. “Young people in Europe feel confident that their own lifestyles are more environmentally sustainable than those of people in other world regions,” said Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar. “And in the next 10 years they want to see government and the private sector working together more closely to develop clean technology and to increase investment in renewable energy. It is up to policymakers and the business community to rise to this challenge.” Solar power is the preferred future energy source among youth in France and Spain, while British and German Post-Millennials show a preference for wind energy, Masdar’s Gen Z survey found. “As we look towards the next 10 years, the findings of our global survey provide a valuable insight into the opinions of the post-millennial generation about the world’s key sustainability and energy-related challenges, and the action required to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy and clean technologies,” said Al Ramahi. “Masdar was a catalyst for the adoption of renewable energy in the Arab world, a region where around a third of the population is between the ages of 15 and 29. Today’s youth are the policymakers, industry leaders, technical experts and consumers of tomorrow – an audience with whom we and the wider energy and sustainability community must engage to realise a more sustainable future.” ### MASDAR GEN Z SUSTAINABILITY SURVEY: TOP 10 FINDINGS IN EUROPE 1. Europe’s youth say terrorism is the world’s biggest challenge today; climate change and environment rank second When asked for the top three challenges facing the world today, four in ten of Europe’s youth named the threat of terrorism, with climate change/environment and poverty/inequality ranking joint second (38%) and unemployment (27%) in fourth. But there were marked differences between countries, reflecting different national circumstances. In Spain, for example, young people said that unemployment was the top challenge (44%), while in the UK, it was poverty and inequality (45%). In France, where there has been a spate of high-profile terrorist attacks, terrorism was understandably identified as the world’s biggest immediate challenge (46%). German Post-Millennials, however, identified climate change and environmental threats as the biggest threat facing humanity today. 2. Climate change/environment is seen as the biggest challenge for the next 10 years Climate change/environment is seen as the world’s biggest challenge over the next decade by youth in all European countries surveyed except the UK, whose young people identify poverty/inequality as the biggest concern, followed by terrorism and then climate change. Post-Millennials in Germany are the least likely among Europeans to believe that it’s the responsibility of Generation Z (18-25-year-olds) to solve sustainability challenges. Twentyseven per cent of German youth interviewed said that their own age-group had the most responsibility to tackle these issues, compared with 39% in France and 33% in Spain. Young Germans are also the least likely to say that governments need to listen more to young people on sustainability. 3. French Post-Millennials most interested in a sustainable-related career and/or studying sustainability France is the only European country polled where more than half of the young people are interesting in working in sustainability or studying the subject. That said, European youth in general are still more significantly interested in sustainability-related careers and study than their counterparts in the US and Japan. Around half of Spain’s youth questioned want to work in sustainability or study it, and 44% of British youth also want to. 4. Government and business need to do more to increase adoption of renewable energy European youth are less likely than the rest of the global Post-Millennials interviewed to believe that business and government share equal responsibility for developing clean technology and renewable energy. Even so, a large majority (three in four) still agree that the public and private sectors should accept equal responsibility. UK youth felt most strongly that business and government should play an equal part (84%), while France’s youth felt the least strongly (62%). Generally, young Europeans in the study want government to spend more on renewables. 5. NGOs seen as most active when it comes to promoting renewables and clean-tech When asked who is currently doing the most on sustainable energy consumption/production, there are major differences in opinion between young people in different European countries. For example, French youth are more than twice as likely as their European peers to say that big business is currently doing the most. Overall, young Europeans believe not-for-profit organisations such as the WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are doing the most to develop sustainable energy (47%), followed by scientific and academic organisations and the general public (31%). 6. Europe’s youth say they live greener lives than their counterparts elsewhere in the developed world Young Europeans in the study were more confident in their own personal ‘greenness’ than their peers in the rest of the developed world, particularly Spain. Spain’s youth thought they lived the most environmentally-friendly lives (51%), followed by youth in the UK (46%), France (44%) and Germany (42%). Compared with the global average for developed countries, young Europeans are more likely to perform environmentally responsible activities such as recycling (66% compared with 62%) and reducing energy consumption (55% compared with 50%). 7. Young people disagree about the main barriers to investment in renewable energy German and British youth are the most likely to believe that the reluctance of individuals to change behaviour is the biggest barrier to investment in renewable energy (54% and 52%, respectively) compared to young people in other European countries surveyed. Spanish and French youth (55% and 51%) argue that political will/leadership is a bigger obstacle. 8. European youth have most trust in their family to act sustainably European youth trust their families the most to act sustainably, with 81% of those polled saying they trusted their families ‘a lot’ to do so, which is in line with the global average of 82%. Young people in the UK (75%) are more likely than those in other European nations to trust small and local businesses to be green. Just over half (55%) of respondents in France feel the same. European youth had limited trust in large companies to behave sustainably. Big business ranked third from last in Masdar’s survey. The media was placed second from last, and religious leaders rated last. 9. German youth the most confident that their country is getting greener German and British Post-Millennials (55% and 56%, respectively) have the most confidence that their country is getting greener. Spanish youth, on the other hand, were the least confident in their country’s environmental track record over the past year. 10. European youth see solar energy as the future Overall among Europe’s youth, solar power is the favourite future energy source (59%) and wind the second most-preferred (58%). They are followed by hydroelectric power (43%), tidal power (25%) and geothermal power (20%). Solar power is the preferred future energy source among youth in Spain and France, while British and German young people are slightly more in favour of wind. British youth were the most optimistic worldwide about the potential of wind power, according to the study. Young Germans were the least favourable towards nuclear power across all 20 countries polled, with only 6% describing it as a priority future energy source. -EndsSurvey Methodology* The ‘Masdar Gen Z Global Sustainability Survey’ was done by international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB). It analysed what members of the post-millennial cohort (those aged between 18 and 25) worldwide think about the environment, climate change, sustainability and renewable energy. PSB conducted 4,704 online interviews between March 4 and March 29, 2016 in 20 countries: three in the Americas (US, Mexico and Brazil), four in Europe (UK, France, Germany and Spain), three in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa), five in the Middle East & North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan), and five in Eurasia (Russia, China, India, South Korea, Japan). The findings were also analysed according to the economic development of the participating countries, with countries classified as either ‘Developed’ (Germany, France, Spain, UK, US and Japan), ‘Emerging’ (Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, UAE, Morocco) or ‘Frontier’ (Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria). Youth respondents were interviewed about subjects including climate change; awareness of and responsibility for environmental issues; their own personal actions on the environment; renewable energy; education and sustainability; and the development of clean technology including wind and solar power. PSB conducted between 100 and 300 interviews per country depending on the level of internet penetration. The survey’s margin of error is +/-1.43% for the total sample, with sub-groups having a larger margin of error. For more information and the full survey results, visit www.masdar.ae/GenZSurvey. About Masdar Masdar is Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company which works to advance the development, commercialisation and deployment of clean energy technologies and solutions. The company serves as a link between today’s fossil fuel economy and the energy economy of the future. Wholly owned by the Mubadala Development Company PJSC, the strategic investment company of the Government of Abu Dhabi, Masdar is dedicated to the United Arab Emirates’ long-term vision for the future of energy and water. Contacts: E-mail: [email protected] Tel enquiries in Arabic: +971 2 653 3333 Tel enquiries in English: +971 2 653 6014 For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar ###