The Australia Institute’s Climate of the Nation Report 2022 has revealed Australians’ widespread support for improving active transport, amongst other important decarbonization policies.
Since 2007, the Climate of the Nation reports have captured the attitudes of Australians towards climate change, the impacts, the science, the opportunities, and the political response.
The 2022 report, released last week, shows that the majority of the population (75%) are concerned about climate change, echoing the 2021 report and remaining at an all-time high.
In fact, the proportion of respondents that are ‘very concerned’ about climate change has almost doubled over five years.
Numerous decarbonization strategies were presented to survey participants, including national fuel efficiency standards, encouraging electric vehicle and zero emission vehicle (ZEV) uptake, and phasing out of coal power.
Here is a summary of the active transport findings:
- More than three-fifths (62%) of respondents agree that governments should introduce policies that encourage moving away from cars and towards public transportation and active transportation
- On average, Australians believe 20% of government transport spending should go to active transport (the same as the minimum recommended by the United Nations)
The findings echo similar insights from the Climate Council’s National People and Transport Poll 2022 found that more than two-thirds (67%) of Australians surveyed think governments should invest more in footpaths and bike lanes.
It also found that most Victorians (61%) would be interested to try an electric bike if their state or local government offered them an opportunity to do so for free.
The findings are slightly at odds with a new poll commissioned by the Herald Sun, which found that 28% of respondents said they were less likely to visit the Melbourne CBD because of an increase in bike lanes (21% said they more likely to visit; 43% held neutral views; and 6% were unsure).
These results imply that Australians perceive active transport as an important opportunity to curb transport-related emissions and take action on climate change.