Since 1996, the Environmental Awareness Study has been conducted approximately every two years to evaluate how environmentally aware people in Germany are. The study is a representative survey on environment-related attitudes, actions and policy expectations. For the present study, more than 2,000 citizens aged 14 and over were surveyed online in the summer of 2022.

The results show that environmental protection and climate action continues to be an important issue for the population. It is ranked fifth among the most important challenges. The respondents consider several policy fields of environmental protection and climate action to be relevant. The issue of plastic waste is at the top of the list.

From the perspective of the population, there is a need for action not only in climate action, but also in adaptation to climate change. The focus is on water – either on measures to adapt to too much water or to deal with too little water: more than two-thirds of the respondents consider it very important to improve water retention to protect against flooding and to convert forests into drought-resistant mixed forests.

With regard to the main topic of this study, the environmentally and climate-friendly restructuring of the German economy, the answers of the respondents illustrate that a broad majority is in favour of an ambitious ecological policy path. But the results also show: for the ecological economic transformation to succeed and be supported by citizens, social concerns must be sufficiently taken into account. The population feels that the state has a special duty here.

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