Dubai: The majority of millennials in the GCC are increasingly concerned about the effects of global warming on the climate and its damaging impact on the future, showed a recent YouGov study.
The study showed that 92 per cent of millennials aged 18-29 across the GCC (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) believe the environment is under a bigger threat today than 20 years ago.
The study, which looks at how millennials perceive the connection between the climate and job market, aims to better identify their expectations regarding the stakeholders who are shaping today’s world.
While the majority of respondents shared the opinion that global warming is an important issue and 64 per cent believe a solution can be found, fighting against global warming is not the first future priority for many. The study showed that just six per cent consider global warming a top priority and 20 per cent regard the fight against global warming as one of their top three priorities for the future.
“It is encouraging to see that nine out of 10 millennials in the GCC are concerned about the environment and they remain cautiously optimistic that solutions could still be found to counter the issues,” said Kailash Nagdev, YouGov’s managing director.
“The young are leading the way by making cautious choices in terms of career paths and companies they work for, that could help them work on some of these solutions,” he added.
The belief that a commitment to green growth and the implementation of measures to reduce greenhouse gases will improve the economic and job situation in the GCC was supported by 77 per cent of respondents. The majority of them (81 per cent) also agreed that it is possible to combine material progress and environmental protection.
When it comes to the level of education, more than half of respondents (52 per cent) believe that their education has prepared them sufficiently to face tomorrow’s challenges, particularly challenges concerning global warming. Eight in 10 believe that global warming will change the nature of existing jobs (new skills, new partnerships etc) and 64 per cent believe that global warming will destroy existing jobs.
More than half of respondents also indicated that contributing to the fight against global warming is one of their career goals and a factor in their choice of job or profession. Wage/level of income is the most important criteria when considering an employment opportunity for almost one quarter (24 per cent). The employer’s commitment to the protection of the environment and fight against global warming is the most important criteria for only seven per cent of respondents.
When it comes to who young people of the GCC trust to help solve the global warming problem, 87 per cent said they trust scientists and experts, 82 per cent trust schools and universities, 77 per cent trust NGOs and other charitable/humanitarian organisations and 74 per cent trust their government to protect the environment. Conversely only 50 per cent of respondents trust the businesses to step up and help in protecting the environment.
“The above-(mentioned beliefs) combined with lack of trust in the companies signals that organisations that genuinely care about the environment would be the brand of choice for employment and purchasing decisions for the millennial workforce,” said Nagdev.
The survey was conducted online by YouGov using a specialist Omnibus research service. In total, 1,294 people living in the GCC region aged 18 to 29 took part in the online survey from October 25 to 31, 2016.
