Here are the terms and narratives the fossil fuel industry is using to obstruct climate action. The fossil fuel industry haven’t really come up with new spin in about a century, just slightly updated versions of the same old stories on repeat, including: “Climate Policy Makes Gas Prices Higher,” “The LNG Boom Delivers Energy Security and Pricing Stability,” “Fossil Fuel Development Will Solve Poverty in the Global South (particularly Africa),” “Wind Turbines Kill Birds,” “Offshore Wind Kill Whales and Other Marine Species.” Misleading terms are also described.

7 in 10 Americans express some level of interest in buying or leasing an electric-only vehicle (EV). Among Americans who said they expect their next vehicle to be new, 38% said they would at least seriously consider getting an EV if they were to get a vehicle today. This however highlights a significant gap between consideration and actual purchases, as only around 7% of new vehicle purchases in 2023 were battery electric vehicles. Deeper analysis of the survey findings showed that overall consumer experience with EVs is very low.

Voters widely support “responsible investing” rules from the SEC that require businesses to disclose climate-related financial risks. Few are hearing negative information about ESG. Just over seven in ten voters (71%) – including majorities of Democrats (80%), independents (69%), and Republicans (64%) – say that they support “responsible investing” based on the description below. Majorities also support the proposed SEC rule to require disclosure of climate-related financial risks when they learn about the rule.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including new polling on climate attitudes across generations and new polling on Americans’ top issue priorities.

Gen Z and Millennials both outpace other generations in their climate concern. Majorities of every generation say that they’re at least “somewhat” concerned about climate change, including overwhelming majorities of Gen Z Americans (85%) and Millennials (78%) as well as around three in five Gen X Americans (60%), Baby Boomers (59%), and Americans from the Silent/Greatest generations (63%).

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new update of Yale’s Climate Opinion Maps with estimates of climate attitudes down to local geographies, new polling on Americans’ top issue concerns, and new polling on the electricity grid and clean energy transition.

Americans are widely concerned about aging and unreliable electric grid infrastructure. Grid reliability, along with health and jobs, is a key argument in favor of transitioning to clean energy.

New Yale Climate Opinion Maps provide updated estimates of Americans’ climate attitudes down to the state, county, metro area, and congressional district levels. While most polling on climate attitudes is conducted at either the national or state levels, Yale’s Climate Opinion Maps utilize national polling data to estimate public attitudes down to smaller geographies – providing advocates with a unique set of data to hold policymakers at various levels of government accountable.

This post includes climate and environment headlines, data points, and key takeaways from recent public polls - including a new analysis of the impact of voters’ climate attitudes on the 2020 presidential election results, new polling on electric vehicles, new polling on competitiveness with China on clean energy, and a new analysis of climate justice attitudes across Yale and George Mason’s “Six Americas” segments.

Freezing temperatures and skyrocketing energy costs are knocking on our doors again in Texas, and conversations about reliable renewable energy projects are once again emerging. This has us thinking quite a bit this week about what stands in the way of siting and building renewable projects that are now well funded, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Inevitably we return to the conversation about the role of misinformation.