Most important environmental issues in Belgium 2019

A survey conducted in 2019 asked Belgians what they believe are the most important environmental issues facing Belgium. Survey respondents considered air pollution the most important issue, with 41 percent of all respondents indicating that this issue belonged to the three most pressing environmental problems in Belgium. However, nearly as many respondents were concerned about global warming and climate change, which was named by 40 percent of survey participants. Air pollution was also an issue in other European countries. In the same survey, 62 percent of Polish respondents and 43 percent of Italian respondents also named air pollution among the most pressing issues facing their country.

 Believers in climate change 

   An earlier survey by the same source asked Belgian respondents whether they believe in climate change. The share of respondents who said that they believe the world’s climate is changing was considerably higher than those who considered it among the most important environmental issues in the 2019 survey. In 2018, nearly four out of five respondents stated to believe in climate change. Only ten percent said they did not think the world climate was changing.

Causes of climate change

   The same survey asked respondents who or what they believe to be the cause of climate change. The largest share of participants stated they believe it is partly a natural process and partly caused by humans (36 percent). Nearly as many people though believed that humans were the cause of global warming, at 34 percent.