June 9th, 2023, Janice Fernandes
As concerns about environmental sustainability continue to grow, the question of personal transportation habits and their impact on the planet has become a topic of significant interest. A recent analysis with data from YouGov Global Profiles reveals consumer attitudes towards driving less.
According to the data, more than half of global respondents (54%) agree that we should all drive less to save the environment, while 32% neither agree nor disagree and 15% disagree.
Breaking down the data by region shows that Europeans are most likely of all markets to agree that we must drive less for the sake of the environment (60%). While consumers in the Americas, APAC and MENA regions are a little less likely to agree they still register slightly more than half of their populations – 55%, 52% and 53% respectively.
While Americas (20%) and MENA (19%) regions register a relatively high share of consumers who outright disagree with the statement, over a third of APAC consumers are on the fence about (36%).
How do consumers across different age groups and regions feel about driving less to save the environment?
Recent reports reveal that Gen Z is driving less than the generations before them. However, data from YouGov Global Profiles suggests that it’s not entirely because they think it will save the environment. Global consumers between 18 and 25 years are the least likely of all to agree (48%) with the statement – ‘We should drive less to save the environment’.
This is also true for this young generation in all regions surveyed. While slightly more than half of 18-24-year-olds in the Americas (52%) and Europe (56%) say that they agree that they should drive less to save the environment, it’s still lower than the proportion of older consumers who agree with the same statement in their regions – 55% and 63% of 55+ respectively.
Similarly, Gen Z consumers in APAC register the lowest share of all in the region who agree that we should drive less to save the environment – 46% of 18-24-year-olds compared to 59% of 55+. Similarly in MENA less than half of 18-24-year-olds agree with the statement (48%).
Data reveals that Europeans (63%) and MENA (62%) consumers over the age of 55 are the most likely of all consumer segments to agree that driving less will help the environment.
What’s their take on public transportation?
Public transport could be the easiest alternative to reducing one’s carbon footprint on a daily basis. But what do consumers feel about public transport?
Overall, nearly two in five global consumers who agree that we should drive less also find public transport gross (39%).
Older consumers who agree that we must reduce driving to save the environment are less likely than younger respondents to say public transport is gross – 37% of 45-54-year-olds and 30% of 55+.
Respondents in MENA are the most likely of all regions to find public transport gross (54%), followed by the Americas (46%). Fewer consumers in Europe (34%) and APAC (37%) who agree that driving less is a solution to a better environment agree that public transport is not pleasant.
Perhaps e-bikes could serve as an alternative to both driving and public transportation as a medium of urban mobility.
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Methodology: YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 48 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 16+ years in China and 18+ years in other markets. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always c.1000. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples, and China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which use online representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles.
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