An EU survey on Monday showed Europeans’ concern about the environment has not diminished for the last three years and air pollution became the biggest issue among environment worries.
According to the survey which covered 28,000 EU citizens, 95 per cent of whom said that protecting the environment is important to them personally and many think more can be done.
“It is good to see such solid and widespread support for the protection of the environment, even in difficult times.
“People are particularly concerned about air and water pollution, chemicals and waste, and they feel that more must be done by everyone to protect the environment,’’ Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said.
However, the survey showed that the EU citizens worry most about air pollution (56 per cent) and water pollution (50 per cent) ranking highest as well as waste generation and depletion of natural resources.
An increasing number representing 59 per cent of interviewed citizens believed that social and environmental factors should be as important as economic criteria in measuring progress in their country.
In relation to the spending and investment of public authorities, 59 per cent are of the opinion that the public authorities of their country should favour environmental-friendly considerations over cost.
Xinhua
