A survey has revealed that only one in every four Swedes trust mainstream media reporting on climate change, despite a majority believing that it is man-made.
The Demoskop poll published on Monday revealed that very few Swedes trust the mainstream media’s reporting on the issue of climate change — just one in four.
Nearly half of Swedes, 44 per cent, say that they have difficulty assessing the truth about climate change and that the amount of knowledge they possess on subjects such as emissions or the behaviour of carbon dioxide is very limited, Demoskop said in a press release.
Despite this, a majority, 60 per cent, believe that climate change is caused by the activities of humans, but only 30 per cent said they are actually concerned about climate change.
Swedes’ distrust of media narratives is not a new phenomenon, with a 2017 report noting that the majority of people in Sweden believed the media was dishonest about problems in society related to mass migration.
In 2016, researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics and market research company NEPA presented a study that revealed that a fifth of Swedes had no confidence at all in the country’s mainstream media, and around half got their news mainly from alternative sources.
Swedes have also been sceptical about climate change spending, with a Swedish Taxpayers’ Association poll finding that climate change spending was voted the largest waste of taxpayer money in 2019 as, despite the cash, Sweden’s emissions had actually increased.
The Demoskop survey comes as world leaders gather in Glasgow, Scotland, for the COP26 conference this week, with some noting that around 400 aircraft shipped an estimated 30,000 people to Glasgow, at least 52 private jets among them, resulting in massive emissions.
During the conference, HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince of Wales, spoke of the need for a “vast military-style campaign” to fight against climate change.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how devastating a global cross-border threat can be, climate change and biodiversity loss are no different. In fact, they pose an even greater existential threat, to the extent that we have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing,” Prince Charles said.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.