Whether we have "changed for the better" is not yet known, in absolute terms. Indeed, from many things it would seem not, but on one aspect instead, as humanity, the Covid-19 pandemic is actually making us better: awareness of climate and environmental problems. This is certified by a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group on a sample of 3.000 people worldwide: more than 70% of citizens today define themselves as more aware than before Covid-19 that human activity threatens the climate and that degradation of the environment, in turn, is a threat to humans. Furthermore, three quarters of those interviewed (76%) even claim that environmental problems are equally or more worrying than health problems.
In short, after the Covid-19 crisis, people say to each other more attentive not only to health problems, but also to environmental ones. As expected, in first place among the concerns, there are infectious diseases highlighted by 95% of the interviewees (67% are more worried than before Covid-19). But as many as 92% of people worry about air pollution, 91% about water management and scarcity, 90% about the destruction of the natural habitat, 89% about climate change, with growing shares by about a third since the outbreak of the pandemic to date. And attention is also increasing on climate change, on the loss of biodiversity, on soil pollution, on the unsustainable use of resources.
According to the BCG the crisis is driving change on an individual level as well: a third of respondents are already practicing "green" behavior on a constant basis, 25% more since the crisis began. As many as 40% intend to have more sustainable behaviors in the future. The main actions already carried out regularly by citizens are the reduction of domestic energy consumption (a reality for 50% of people), the increase or improvement of recycling and composting (49%), the purchase of locally produced goods (40%) or that of single-use plastic-free products (37%). Then there are behaviors towards the “zero waste” goal, the purchase of fewer packaged products, travel to nearby territories, changes in transport habits for reasons of sustainability.
The commitment to sustainability is even more marked among young people, who evidently suffer from the Greta effect. They believe more than others that personal behavior can make a difference and strongly ask to place the environmental issue at the center of recovery plans. Analyzing the answers by age, in fact, it turns out that 34% of 25-34 year olds today are more convinced of the fact that their personal action can fight climate change (against 19% among 55-64 year olds and 10% among the ultra 65 year olds), 35% that it can protect wildlife and biodiversity (17% among 55-64 year olds and 9% among over 65 year olds), 38% that it can reduce unsustainable waste (20% among 55-64 year olds and 16% among the over 65 year olds).
Finally, and this is somewhat surprising given the anti-political climate in many parts of the world, the younger ones show more confidence in their ability to respond to the crisis on their part governments and demand more than other generations that environmental issues have the same importance as economic ones.
