'Greta effect' boosting demand for climate change careers, RSC claims.

Survey comes alongside separate research showing surge in support for UK's net zero target

Greta Thunberg may not be a scientist herself, but her passionate calls for world leaders to "listen to the science" on climate change may be rubbing off on young people keen to pursue careers in the subject, the Royal Society for Chemistry (RSC) has claimed.

In a YouGov poll commissioned by the RSC, almost a quarter - 23 per cent - of people aged 15 to 18 said they were likely to consider pursuing a career related to combatting climate change, while 26 per cent said scientists had the biggest role to play in addressing the problem.

The survey, which took in responses from more than 1,000 young people, saw 58 per cent rate climate change as the biggest problem facing the world, while 77 per cent of respondents said Thunberg had influenced their thinking.

In addition, 78 per cent of respondents said they believed chemistry had a key role to play in tackling declining natural resources, 53 per cent said the subject was important for combatting hunger, and 88 per cent said chemistry could help improve health and tackle disease, the poll results released late last week show.

Sarah Robertson, RSC's director of education and professional practice, described the poll findings as "incredibly encouraging" and hailed Thunberg's influence in helping to inspire more young people to consider careers in science.

"We all must capitalise on young people's interests in addressing the climate crisis and demonstrate how they themselves can make the difference through informed career choices," she said. "With 82 per cent of respondents to the survey saying that chemistry and the chemical sciences is important to addressing climate change, for example, there is an opportunity to fulfil that ambition - but only if we provide better support and inspiration for the next generation of climate scientists."

The findings came alongside the results of a separate poll commissioned by renewable energy supplier Pure Planet, which it claims found "record levels" of support for the UK's statutory target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Almost 90 per cent of the 2,000 people polled by Opinium said reaching net zero should be a priority for the UK, a figure which has grown by a quarter in its surveys over the past three years, Pure Planet said last week. In contrast, the proportion supporting net zero stood at 64 per cent in its 2017 survey.

In addition, 40 per cent of those polled said they wanted to see greater investment in renewable energy generation, while a third said the government should reduce the amount of fossil fuels used to produce energy, the company said.

Steven Day, co-founder of Pure Planet, said the poll results showed public concern about the climate crisis was now at "unprecedented" levels. As such, he called for increased efforts to boost renewable energy capacity to help drive towards the 2050 net zero goal.

"The public is demanding action on climate change and those in government must pay attention," he said. "Britain is currently leading the way in reducing our own emissions but unless those in power increase their actions we will fall behind."

The survey follows a clear trend across a raft of polls in recent months, most notably in Ipsos MORI's long-running issues tracker survey of 1,000 UK adults, which last week found public concern about the environment had climbed yet again, rising above crime, education, and inequality as issues of most concern.

Environmental and climate change issues are now the third most pressing among UK adults, just behind Brexit and the NHS, according to the survey.

24 February 2020

Business Green