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Highly educated people are often the biggest polluters

7 March 2019 - Wouter Baan - 7 comments

'say A and do B'; that saying applies in particular to the Dutch who are most concerned about climate. Research by I&O Research shows that higher educated people are most concerned about climate change, but at the same time are often the biggest polluters themselves.

The survey, which was conducted among more than 2.500 Dutch people aged 18 and older, shows that about 65% are concerned about climate change. In addition, the majority believe that it is the government's task to combat climate change, for example by forcing large multinationals to become more sustainable, or by making homes more energy-efficient. 

Man more polluting than woman
The study also looked at which Dutch person is the biggest polluter. Questions were asked about political preference, age and level of education. This shows that from a political point of view the VVD voter is the biggest polluter, followed by CDA voters and those who vote for D66. According to the researchers, it is striking that Rob Jetten's party comes out as polluting, because they profile themselves as 'sustainable'. 

Those who vote for the Party for the Animals (PvdD) and GroenLinks are the least polluting, the study shows. Men are generally more polluting than women. And in terms of age, people between the ages of 35 and 49 emit the most CO2 from.

Higher incomes consume more
Another conclusion from the report is that income and CO2emissions are related; the more people earn, the higher the CO2emissions. In contrast, there are few differences between high and low income groups in terms of views on the climate. The researchers think that the higher incomes simply have more to spend and therefore consume more.

There is, however, a difference between the higher and lower educated. For example, 55% of the higher educated see a gloomy outlook for the coming generations, while this figure is 40% for the lower educated. In addition, higher educated people vote more often for 'sustainable parties' such as GroenLinks or the Party for the Animals. In terms of behaviour, the higher educated are more polluting; especially in transport and consumption. For example, a higher educated flies an average of 9,4 hours a year, while a lower educated spends an average of 2,4 hours in the air.

Although the Dutch mainly expect a cleaner world from the government, they themselves do not sit still. More than 4 in 10 Dutch people have taken measures themselves in the past 5 years, such as installing solar panels or taking insulation measures.

Click here to read the entire report. 

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Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.
Comments
7 comments
jan34 7 March 2019
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url=http://www.boerenbusiness.nl/ artikel/10881603/higher-educated-is-often-largest-polluter]Higher educated is often the biggest polluter[/url]
that is annoying. then you immediately know who you should not (any longer) listen to. And why are we still going along with the CO2 hoax? There is no question that we MUST cut back: it can be achieved quickly, cheaply and really helps.
But CO2 as a cause of climate change is in a very weak position, while huge investments are planned (imposed by that FLUT Paris agreement).
WHY does politicians go along with that hype, while families and businesses are being presented with the bill.
The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is perfectly regulated by nature. No measure will help for that, any more than climate change, a natural (cosmic) process that has been occurring for a long time, sometimes welcome, sometimes difficult.
Conserving is the only thing that can help, also because the majority of humanity does not even have a good life yet and would like to. But if we don't want to cut corners, we (or posterity) get a big cake of our own dough. Because of the greed
West Brabant 7 March 2019
If I may believe the media, farmers are also very big polluters. I hardly dare to say it: I am a highly educated farmer, so just about the most polluting thing there is.
boer 7 March 2019
Well, an unemployed person who is at home waiting for his unemployment benefits simply does not need a car or plane for his work
jan34 7 March 2019
@farmer. interesting, do you make a difference between flying for fun (vacation) or flying for work? to the extent that it would apply at all to farmers. I think most resistance to flying is for fun. what is your idea?
Johanvp 7 March 2019
Higher educated people also eat healthier and are less likely to be overweight. So you would say that pollution is not so much about food consumption.
Geilwenaore 8 March 2019
bie oes in West Vlaondern they look at the farmers like str...jamr. olles skeilt an oes.
2.3% of the CO2 emissions from agriculture
neighbour 8 March 2019
Obviously Geilwenaore
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