site.btaExacta Poll: 51.6% of Bulgarians Have Not Heard of Green Deal

Sofia, October 20 (BTA) - According to an Exacta poll on Bulgarians' attitudes towards the Green Deal this year, 51.6 per cent have not heard this term, as opposed to 48.4 per cent who have. Compared to 2020, the share of Bulgarians familiar with the Green Deal grew by 11.9 per cent.

Exacta Research Group conducted two nationally representative surveys on Bulgarians' attitudes towards the Green Deal, both among 1,005 adult respondents. The first was carried out from October 1 to 7, 2020 and the second, from September 29 to October 4. The polls were funded by Exacta with the financial support of MEP Radan Kanev (Democrats for Strong Bulgaria/EPP).

In 2021, the most familiar with the Green Deal are university degree holders (67 per cent of them have heard this term), the residents of Sofia (57 per cent) and regional cities (53 per cent), people with a good standard of living, and Bulgarians aged between 30 and 60. Less familiar with the term are those aged under 30 (56 per cent of them have not heard of the Green Deal), people with primary and secondary education, Bulgarians with a low standard of living, and residents of small towns and villages.

Compared with 2020, the share of respondents giving the correct answer to what the Green Deal is (a set of European policies for long-term emissions reduction in the EU and for funding the transition to a low-carbon economy) grew by 7 per cent to reach 46 per cent in 2021. Fifteen per cent of this year's respondents, as opposed to 13 per cent of last year's, chose an answer which is not incorrect but puts the emphasis on the national policy on the issue: that the Green Deal is a plan of the Bulgarian government for emissions reduction in the energy sector by 2030.

The share of respondents without an opinion on the matter dropped by 8 per cent.

Those who think Bulgaria is not ready to take part in the plan for green recovery and transformation in a way that would generate benefits, are more than the respondents who consider Bulgaria capable of participating and drawing benefits from the plan. Compared to 2020, the share of the skeptics - mostly educated residents of big cities - grew by 3 per cent to reach 44 per cent this year.

The 2021 survey found that 40.2 per cent of Bulgarians consider unsolved the issue with air pollution in their settlement. Among them are 81 per cent of Sofianites and half of the residents of regional cities.

This year saw an increase in the share of Bulgarians who are ready to personally contribute to the fight against climate change by undertaking certain measures and observing certain restrictions. This contribution mostly includes the use of cosmetics meeting the ecological standards (79 per cent of respondents, up from 70 per cent in 2020), while 53 per cent would reduce their car use and 49 per cent, their meat consumption.

RY/DS