A total of 64% of respondents to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) survey supported reducing the size of the national cattle herd to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Some 4,000 people took part in the Climate Change in the Irish Mind project, a baseline study of the Irish population’s beliefs, attitudes, policy preferences and behaviours regarding climate change.

A total of 92% of respondents supported increasing forest areas in their locality to offset greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Ninety percent of people said Ireland has a responsibility to act on climate change and that Ireland should do what it can to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, while 9% said Ireland is too small to make a difference in climate change and should let other countries take the lead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The survey also found that 33% of respondents thought that agriculture was Ireland's largest source of the pollution causing climate change, 23% said transport was the largest polluter and 22% said energy was the largest polluter.

Eating habits

Survey respondents were asked “over the past 12 months, how often, if ever, have you chosen not to eat meat for environmental reasons?”

The results of this question saw 50% say they never did this, 11% said rarely, 18% said occasionally, 18% said often and 3% said they didn’t know.

Harm

A total of 56% said they were worried that agricultural pests and diseases “might harm” their local area and 64% were worried severe storms might harm their local area.

Some 74% said they weren’t worried about bog bursts or landslides harming their local area and 81% were worried about water pollution.

A total of 51% of respondents said they heard about climate change at least once a week in the media, such as TV, movies, radio, newspapers, magazines and online.

Trust

Some 94% of respondents said they somewhat trusted or strongly trusted scientists as an information source on climate change.

A total of 68% said they distrusted corporations or businesses and 83% said they trusted environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as sources of information on climate change.

A total of 69% said they trusted the mainstream media and 65% said they trusted journalists as sources of information on climate change, while 56% said they distrusted political leaders.

Some 89% of respondents said they trusted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on climate change.

Weather

The vast majority (88%) said that climate change was affecting Ireland’s weather, with 5% stating it wasn’t affecting the weather.

When asked how much risk extreme weather poses to your community in the next 10 years, 23% said there was a high risk, 52% said there was a moderate risk and 20% said there was a low risk.

Fuel

The survey found that 68% of people either strongly or somewhat supported banning peat, coal and oil for home heating purposes, while 92% supported that there should be Government grants to encourage residential and commercial building owners to install cleaner and more efficient heating systems.

A total of 92% agreed there should be Government grants to make electric vehicles more affordable and 64% supported higher taxes on petrol and diesel cars.