More than half of young Spaniards demand more environmental content in schools

• The Endesa Foundation’s Ecobarometer 2021 report, an updated version of the one published in 2016, which measures the ecological culture of Spaniards, was released today.
• The key findings show that more than half of young people believe that environmental material is insufficient or that school should play a larger role in increasing our low-middle-range ecological culture. Furthermore, the survey shows that citizens in general find it difficult to accept the costs of environmental protection.
• Its authors note that society is becoming more environmentally aware, but so slowly that significant improvements have not been possible over the last four years.

Young Spaniards perceive climate change to be the most serious environmental problem, and they have become more environmentally active in recent years. These are some of the findings in the report "La cultura ecológica en España: prioridades, costes, actitudes, y el papel de la escuela" ("Ecological culture in Spain: priorities, costs, attitudes and the role of schools"), published by the Endesa Foundation, in collaboration with the European Foundation for Society and Education.  This study is an updated 2021 edition of the first "Ecobarómetro. Cultura ecológica y educación" ("Ecobarometer: ecological culture and education"), published in 2016. Víctor Pérez-Díaz and Juan Carlos Rodríguez (president and researcher at Analistas Socio-Políticos, respectively) are the authors of both studies.

Climate change, especially its international dimension, current youth environmental activism, electric mobility, and the context in which the general public and young people construct their responses, i.e. the pandemic, are some of the new topics covered in the 2021 Ecobarometer.

The data for the report was collected in October 2020 from two samples of 1,200 and 1,000 people, representing the population aged 18-35 and the overall population aged 18-75, respectively. The first used an online method, while the second used a computer-assisted telephone interview. To date, this is one of the few studies in Spain (and possibly in Spain's neighbouring countries) that focuses on young people and the relationship between their school experience and environmental attitudes and behaviours.

"This latest edition of the Ecobarometer is another sign of the Endesa Foundation's dedication to education and the environment," says Javier Blanco, CEO of the Endesa Foundation. Besides gauging the Spanish population's present commitment to sustainability, ecology, and the environment, we hope to promote public awareness of the importance of environmental preservation and the possibilities of improving environmental education among younger generations.

The environmental issues faced by young spaniards of 18-35, and the role of schools

Key results

• 91.9% (96.7% in 2016) of the young people interviewed think that the problem of environmental conservation is very or fairly serious. As in 2016, they say the following stand out: climate change (cited by 50.2%; 43.2% in 2016), air pollution (32.7%; 36% in 2016), and depletion of natural resources (23.7%; 28.6% in 2016).
• Between 2016 and 2020, the results show that young people became more environmentally active: in 2016, 7% said they were members of an environmental group; by 2020, that number had risen to 13.9 percent.
•  53.4% think that school curricula were very insufficient or insufficient in the area of key environmental issues, almost the same as in 2016 (54%).
• Their degree of trust in their two main sources of information is fairly even: 64.3% choose environmental associations and 63% choose scientists.

• Respondents believe that their teachers could be much better informed about their subject matter: on a scale of 0 to 10, only 7.5% rate them as outstanding.
  
• The percentage of respondents who use the internet to research energy or environmental issues has increased since 2016, from 11.2 percent in 2016 to 25.6 percent this year. Project work has also grown, from 10.6% in 2016 to 20.8% in 2020.
• The school experience also increased its impact in 2020, by 45.1% in 2020 compared to 38.5% in 2016.

According to Juan Carlos Rodriguez, schools "should provide the foundational knowledge that is needed for citizens to be able to critically evaluate what is said in the public debate on the environment."

The environmental and school impact - issues faced by young spaniards

Key findings

Environmental difficulties only appear as one of the three main problems identified by Spaniards when specific situations or occurrences are experienced directly. 

• When specifically asked about climate change, 84.5 percent of respondents (83.6 percent in 2016; 86.1 percent in 2007) saw it as a very or very significant concern in the next twenty years.
• Only slightly more than a third feels that Spain (or the EU) is fulfilling its carbon reduction targets in the current situation.
• 2020 has four additional environmental behaviours compared to 2016: 24.4% have used an electric bicycle, electric scooter, or similar vehicle in the last year, and 2.7% have purchased an electric automobile (0.9% in 2019, 0.2% in 2017). 37.3 percent of people have placed devices in their homes to help them manage and minimise their energy consumption (in 2019 only 20.1%, and in 2017, 8.5%). 10.8% say they have solar panels in their homes, which is a significant increase above the Eurobarometer statistics from 2019 (1.8%) and 2017 (1.6 percent ).
• Spain is ranked 16th in terms of environmental behaviour, below the EU28 average (Eurobarometer 92.4. of 2019). Furthermore, Spaniards rank 18th out of 28 EU countries in terms of the average number of environmental activities carried out (Eurobarometer 91.3).
• 87.5 percent of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that school education plays a significant role in shaping our environmental attitudes.

Víctor Pérez-Díaz, a winner of the National Prize for Sociology and Political Science, insists that “the surveys analysed in this Ecobarometer and the previous one have emphasised the importance of schools in moulding Spaniards' ecological culture, particularly among young people. That is why we must focus on the issue of young people's education”.

According to the study's findings, society as a whole is becoming more environmentally conscious, even though significant shifts are not yet apparent. To make further progress along these lines, there must be a commitment and a willingness to turn ecological culture into a lived culture.

As Mercedes Esteban, Director of Research at the European Foundation for Society and Education, notes, "we must seek improvement by trusting our schools, reinterpreting the curriculum, increasing investment in teacher development, and implementing active methodologies." Education has a key role in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and, more importantly, in giving meaning to 'green citizenship,' which is capable of inspiring people to live in harmony with the environment”.

About the Endesa Foundation

The main objective of the Endesa Foundation, chaired by Juan Sánchez-Calero, is to contribute to social development through projects based on education, employment training, biodiversity, cultural issues and volunteering.  

The Foundation's educational projects are aimed at fostering innovation and environmental education at all levels and promoting academic excellence in the university field.

Employment training projects focus on promoting the talent of people at risk of social exclusion, young people and professionals over 50 years of age. 

It also supports the conservation and promotion of biodiversity, cooperating in the fight against climate change, contributing to the maintenance of emblematic species and raising awareness about environmental sustainability.

Particularly noteworthy cultural projects include for the lighting of artistic monuments and the conservation and dissemination of the historical industrial heritage of the Spanish electricity sector.

The Endesa Foundation also develops and finances programmes and actions aimed at providing humanitarian aid in extraordinary situations of health crises, natural disasters or other similar situations. 

About The European Foundation for Society and Education

The European Foundation for Society and Education is a private and independent body, which promotes the public defence of education as a foundation for the progress and development of democratic societies.  Through its Research department, it carries out legal, political, educational, economic and sociological studies, opening spaces for reflection, analysis, training and advice to both public and private institutions and entities.

Through its collaboration with the Endesa Foundation, it seeks to give our young people and education the leading roles in a new ecological, committed and responsible culture.