In April 2020, Ipsos MORI, a market research company in the United Kingdom released a survey on how the public in selected countries viewed the two major crisis, COVID-19 and climate change. Although the main interest of the survey was to understand public opinion in the UK, there were some interesting results regarding the perception of COVID-19 and climate change issues in Japan.

Here are the some of the questions addressed in the survey and how the response from Japan compared with other countries. 

Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following: In the long term, climate change is as serious a crisis as Covid-19 is.

 In Japan, 72% agreed, comparable to the global average.

Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following: In the economic recovery after Covid-19, it's important that government actions prioritize climate change.

In Japan, 64% agreed, comparable to the global average.

Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following: Government should focus on helping the economy to recover first and foremost, even if that means taking some actions that are bad for the environment. 

Japan has the lowest approval rate of 35% among the surveyed countries.

Q: In your view, what are the three most important environmental issues facing [COUNTRY] today?

Japan has the highest percentage of respondents among the surveyed countries who prioritize global warming and climate change at 54%.

Q: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement? ‘If a political party’s policies don’t deal seriously with climate change, this would put me off voting for them’. 

Japan approval rate of 41% is the second-lowest among surveyed countries.

In summary, at the time of the survey, Japan viewed climate change as a COVID-19-equivalent crisis when compared to other countries in the world, and regarded it as a policy priority, and economic recovery fromCOVID-19 should not cause environmental problems. However, it seems that Japan did not necessarily expect political parties to prioritize climate change and environmental issues  as political agendas. 

Reference

Ipsos MORI. Two thirds of Britons believe Climate Change as serious as Coronavirus and majority want Climate prioritised in economic recovery 22 April 2020  

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2020-04/earth_day_slide_deck.pdf

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki (Research Strategy Office)