Just one in 10 people in the north believe the region will hit its net zero target by 2050, a survey shows.
And while support for renewable energy development is higher in Northern Ireland than in Britain, almost half of the public don’t want net zero policies pursued if it would personally impact their finances.
A survey of 1,050 people in Northern Ireland carried out by Lucid Talk on behalf of communications agency Cavendish Consulting also found that over 80% of people support wind, solar and hydro development in their area.
This is despite multiple barriers facing new renewables projects, including opposition from vocal coalitions of ‘not-in-my-back-yard’ residents and landowners.
Some 93% of respondents said they would support new solar energy developments in their area, while 88% of people said they would support new offshore wind projects.
With the need to achieve net zero and energy security a key priority for the Stormont Executive, the survey indicates broad public support for low carbon energy sources, with the four primary renewable energy categories drawing stronger support in Northern Ireland than in a similar survey undertaken by Cavendish in Britain in March this year.
However, the research also showed that only 11% of those polled believe the NI Executive’s net zero targets will be reached and 47% of people only want government to pursue net zero policies if doing so doesn’t have a negative impact on their own household finances.
The survey showed there was overall support for onshore wind (81%), offshore wind (88%), tidal/hydro (88%) and solar in (93%) in Northern Ireland, with two thirds of people saying they ‘strongly support’ offshore wind, tidal and solar.
Overall support for hydrogen energy project development was also higher than in GB (64% vs 48%) although only 27% said they strongly support hydrogen, suggesting more education is needed by hydrogen providers.
But nuclear power was in the bottom three in terms of public support in all parts of the north and is the only energy source where the opposition outweighed support (41% support vs 47% opposition).
