Surveying Canadians’ Climate Change Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviours Over Time

Executive Summary

Contract Information

For more information on this report, please contact the Privy Council Office at: Por-rop@pco-bcp.gc.ca

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Executive Summary

Background

In partnership with the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), the Privy Council Office (PCO) required ongoing quantitative data collection and analysis to support a trilateral program of research based in applied behavioural science (BeSci). The program of research required real-time representations of Canadians’ evolving beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours relating to climate change. Insights garnered from this quantitative study will enable the Government of Canada to further develop and refine policy development, regulatory practices, program implementation, and communication strategies.

Climate change is undoubtedly a challenge with deep - and increasingly complex - behavioural roots. High-profile efforts are already underway through federal levers that further the Government’s goals for decarbonization, electrification, energy-efficiency, and nature-based solutions. An additional tool to contribute to these efforts is evidenced-based, data-driven behavioural science (BeSci), which can enhance our understanding of what drives individual and collective behaviour, what barriers stand in the way of greater climate action, and how to design and test solutions that lead to meaningful behaviour change in Canada.

The Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU)’s Centre of Expertise at PCO is partnering with NRCan and ECCC to increase BeSci capacity within the Government of Canada through a three-phase program of applied behavioural research. The program of research was designed as a value add to policy development, regulatory practices, program implementation, and communication strategies. Notably, in serving this new function, the program of applied research will generate evidence of where behavioural gaps exist and test solutions in a rapid format. Feeding back into domain areas across NRCan and ECCC, these insights can then be leveraged to sharpen response techniques across the continuum of Government functions.

Objectives of the Survey

The goal of this survey was to provide PCO, ECCC, and NRCan with research-based information on Canadians’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours relating to climate change. This included:

• support for existing and proposed climate policy and programs;
• risk perceptions pertaining to climate change and its impacts;
• acceptance of recommended behaviours to combat climate change;
• climate change knowledge;
• barriers/drivers to pro-environmental behaviours; and
• misperceptions about climate change and its causes.

Insights generated from this quantitative study will enable the Government of Canada to further develop and refine climate change-focused policy, programs, communications, and regulations to meet the specific needs of Canadians.

Methodology

The Privy Council Office sought to conduct 8 waves of a 20-minute online survey with 2,000 Canadians aged 18 years and older. Aiming for a total of 16,000 completed surveys across 8 waves. The study used Advanis’ proprietary, probability-based General Population Representative Sample (GPRS). The probability-based study was conducted using a two-step approach where respondents were recruited by telephone to participate in an online web survey. Respondents were recruited to the online study by either email or SMS (text message), based on their preference at the time of recruitment. After the initial invitation, if respondents had not yet completed the survey, they were sent a reminder message. Reminder messages were sent 3 and 6 days after the initial recruit.

A total of 17,324 surveys were completed across the 8 waves of the survey between December 2021 and March 2023, with response rates ranging by wave between 28.9% to 48.5% and a margin of error ranging +/-1.86% to +/-2.18% at the national scale (19 times out of 20, at a 95 percent confidence interval). The data was weighted based on geographic region, gender and age, using the 2016 Canadian Population Census for waves 1 to 3, and the 2021 Census data for waves 4 to 8.

Total Expenditure

The total cost of the study was $247,673.76 including taxes.

Political Neutrality

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Advanis that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research.

Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.

Signed:

Nicolas Toutant

Vice-President, Research and Evaluation

Advanis

nicolas.toutant@advanis.ca