At Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD) announced the results of the Youth Survey on Climate Change that was conducted among youth during Q4 2022. The survey had a total of 4210 respondents, including employees and students, aged 15–29, and residing in various emirates, 65 percent of whom were females and 71 percent based in Abu Dhabi.

 

EAD’s Youth Survey on Climate Change captured the voices of young people on the most critical environmental issues and the effects of climate change; 74 percent stated that climate change is negatively affecting their daily life.

 

The survey also evaluated youths’ awareness and engagement on key environmental issues, identified their views on environmental preservation techniques and sustainability concepts, and assessed their level of ecological awareness.

 

The survey also measured the extent to which youths' behaviour had changed as a result of the newly implemented single-use plastic bags policy and explored youths’ viewpoints on environmental priorities and perceived solutions to climate change.

 

The survey was accessible on EAD’s various digital and social media platforms to ensure that it reaches the largest number of youth, including the Sustainable Schools Initiative Network, of 153 schools, and the Sustainable Campus Initiative that includes 24 universities with more than 500 000 students, in addition to EAD’s network of stakeholders and its programmatic partners.

 

When asked to rank the top three environmental challenges (out of a list of 10), almost 48 percent of respondents stated that climate change is their top environmental concern. Following this 47 percent named air pollution and traffic congestion, 40 percent said that land and marine pollution is the most important issue, 26 percent named water shortage as their biggest concern, while the issue of floods and torrents came in the last place with 10 percent.

 

Other results from the survey revealed that 88 percent of youths expressed concern about the extreme rise in temperatures in the UAE during the summer, and 45 percent were very concerned about global warming and its consequences. 25 percent indicated their concern about climate change compared to 20 percent who were optimistic about resolving this issue.

 

According to the surveyed youths, the use of carbon-intensive transportation is the biggest cause of climate change and associated long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns (74%), followed by manufacturing and industry (68%), and lastly deforestation (61%). When asked about what directly contributes to habitat destruction and biodiversity loss, 65 percent of respondents named human activities, followed by pollution with 20 percent.

 

The survey included several questions on single-use plastic products consumption to examine the effectiveness of EAD’s policy on single-use plastic that was launched in 2020, to promote sustainable living among all residents of Abu Dhabi.

 

Approximately 80 percent of the respondents said that single-use plastic has a negative impact on human health. More than 47 percent indicated that the environment is the most affected by single-use plastic pollution, followed by animals (37%), humans ranked third with more than 12 percent.

 

With regards to consumption of single-use plastic bags, 88 percent of participants confirmed that they have reduced their consumption of these bags in the last six months, in a clear indication of the effectiveness of the of ban on single-use plastic products, which was implemented in Abu Dhabi from June 1, 2022.