1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: I'm Dana Perkins and you're listening to Switch It on 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: the B n OF podcast. Today, Mark Taylor and I 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: speak with Hugh Bromley about several recent surveys which tell 4 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: us about how people perceive climate change and whether they 5 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: see it as a top risk. Where are the divisions 6 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: and do they differ by country, age, level of education, 7 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: or political affiliation. Hugh, who covers consumer issues for us 8 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: at B and e F, is going to speak with 9 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: us today about the data that tells us some of 10 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: the answers to these questions. And he analyzed this data 11 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: in one of our recent consumer radar report series titled 12 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: What Divides and Unites on Climate Action and Awareness. If 13 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: you'd like to read it, you can find it on 14 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: the Bloomberg terminal at benof Go or on BNF dot com. 15 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:44,640 Speaker 1: Quick reminder, B and e F does not provide investment 16 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: or strategy advice, and we've got a full disclaimer at 17 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,559 Speaker 1: the end of the show. But now Mark and I 18 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: are going to talk to you, Hugh. Thanks for joining 19 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: us today. Thanks. Then it's graduated back, so let's start 20 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: off the show today with you explaining what it is 21 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: that you do for bn e F because you have 22 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: a bit of a unique role and write research that 23 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: you know you wouldn't necessarily typically associate with us. Yeah, 24 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: I suppose that's right. It's maybe a function that people 25 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: aren't even aware that exists within Bloomberginne f my role, 26 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: who's really to think about the consumers and how consumers 27 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: interact with the technology and the sectors that we care 28 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 1: care about the transport, energy, and climent sustainability. So it 29 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: really that's thinking about consumer behavior and demographics and who's 30 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: buying the gadgets that we care about, that vendor strategy 31 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: and how do you sell to consumers one of the 32 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: more successful strategies there, and finally outcomes how consumes interacting 33 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: and driving outcomes in these sectors. My backgrounds have been 34 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: being with being there for a number of years now. 35 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: I've sat within many of these technology teams. Covering the 36 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: technology is how you know, covering the companies that are 37 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: selling these technologies. Now certainly the other side of that 38 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: thinking about you know, what are the consumers looking for 39 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: here and how are they driving the outcomes? So today 40 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: the title of the note is well, in addition to 41 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: being part of our Humor Radar series, what divides and 42 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: unites us on climate action and awareness. So where do 43 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: you get that sort of information? What sort of data 44 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: are you calling upon? Yes, so the Consumer RATAR something 45 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: we made putting out for over a year now. It's 46 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: a quarterly series and we're drawing heavily on third party 47 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: surveys through out there to get an understanding and kind 48 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: of monitor opinions that are shaping the energy sector and 49 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: transport sector. We're trying to get some leading indicators of 50 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: customer preferences and social consensus that might be changing across 51 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: the energy, transport and climate. The reason for that is 52 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: twofold one. Those indicators of where sales might occur in 53 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: the future are really important. You know, BNF always is 54 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 1: a great job tracking where sales are occurring or have occurred, 55 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: But I'm looking for the leading indicators who's going to 56 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: buy next, what demographics, what region is going to buy next? 57 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: And secondly, it kind of helps us get an understanding 58 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: of consumer or voter priorities and mandates. And this becomes 59 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: really important when you think about kind of as ambition 60 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 1: to decarbonize increases amongst many nations corporations, then role of 61 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: consumers become was far more involved you know, households are 62 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,679 Speaker 1: responsible for something like three quarters of a global g 63 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: h D emissions when you think that all the value 64 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: changes that they rely upon. At the end of the day, 65 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: there there is an consumer. There, there's a household or 66 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,639 Speaker 1: a consumer, and they are ultimately making the decisions that 67 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,640 Speaker 1: will affect you know, whether these net zero and deep 68 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: decolganization targets are achievable or indeed, if they give their 69 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: governments a mandate to go and set targets in the 70 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: first place, these decisions seem to be based you know, 71 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: and what people buy seem to be based on their 72 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: beliefs right where their their perceptions of climate and sustainability. 73 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: I guess can you kind of walk us through some 74 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: of the key findings from the report that relate to that. Yes, 75 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 1: so data emasion before inat report tends to have a theme, 76 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: and this particular report looked at kind of what divides 77 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: the units and climate action. So rather than just thinking 78 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: about where are people most engaged on a climate where 79 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: are we seeing greater support and mandate for government action, 80 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: which I tried to this time, think about, well what 81 00:03:57,240 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: separates them? Why are they're still people pushing back against 82 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,160 Speaker 1: the who is that. So we looked across across a 83 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: number of surveys published in the last quarter and thought about, well, demographically, 84 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: whereas their division between different stakeholders, and then where there's 85 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: not a demographic division, can it be explained by politics. 86 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: We looked at things like whether there's a generational divide 87 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: and educational divide and different opinion between genders, and and 88 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: it's kind of universally those things are true. You know, 89 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: the younger people are more engaged on climate than older people, 90 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,359 Speaker 1: more educated, people with post secondary education are more engaged, 91 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: more likely to believe that the climate change is an 92 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: emergency than people without a secondary education and interested. The 93 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:40,160 Speaker 1: general is a little bit more complicated, but you know, 94 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: in in middle income countries, men are far more likely 95 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 1: to believe the climate changes the emergency than women, and 96 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: in hiring income countries the opposite is true. Women are 97 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: more likely to agree. But there are some universal law, 98 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: almost universal rules, they're that kind of are worth teasing 99 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: out and understanding of why this is shaping belief and opinions. Well, 100 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: so let's talk about what of the study that you 101 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: called upon in this report in a little more details. 102 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:04,480 Speaker 1: So one of them was the World Economic Forums Global 103 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 1: Risk Report, and it's their one edition. Unfortunately those of 104 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: you guys listening can't see it, but let's talk you 105 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,359 Speaker 1: through what's on there. I think there were some themes 106 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: that really emerged. So it evaluated risks well, perception of impacts, 107 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: on likelihood of global risk and broken down by economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, 108 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: and technological and what sorts of trends did you see 109 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: regarding what things I mean, I guess to put it 110 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: really bluntly, what things people are actually care about right now? Well, 111 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: it's an interesting surver. This is survey conducted at the 112 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: end of published in January one. Everyone's coming out of 113 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 1: this really horrible year, where like clearly in the pandemic 114 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: is going to be front of mine, and yet climate 115 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: action failure is still ranked as the highest global risk, 116 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: the most significant global risk in this survey. Now, yes, 117 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: they rated infectious diseases as having the highest impact, climaction 118 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: failure having the second highest impact, and they rated extreme 119 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: weather as having the highest likelihood, climate changing the second 120 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: highest likelihood. But across the board you saw all these 121 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: kind of climate related themes climate action and failure, environmental damage, 122 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: bio diversity, lost extreme weather all ranked very highly. In fact, 123 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,719 Speaker 1: you in the top five places. You see the majority 124 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,279 Speaker 1: of those spots are filled up by climate related issues. 125 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: Was there anything that surprised you in particular about this 126 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: report here? You know, a lot of things have fallen 127 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: from front of mind, you know, things around terrorist attacks 128 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,919 Speaker 1: and technological concerns and risk that people that was very 129 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: much front of mine kind of a year or two 130 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: have really slipped away. Climate changes really hung in there. 131 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 1: It's placed in the top five most impactful risk and 132 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: top five most most likely since whilst all these other 133 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: issues are kind of coming gone. Do you think it 134 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: will help to call it something else? So? Yeah, I 135 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: think calling something else is something that we've kind of 136 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: picked up on a number of surveys over the last year. 137 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: Is there's certain labels that the consumers absolutely resiant. Green 138 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: New Deal is one of them that just has a 139 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: really low support regardless of what it contains. Right now, 140 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,760 Speaker 1: Infrastructure seems to do better certainly across the board, and 141 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: anything to do with sustainability. Certainly a lot of misunderstanding 142 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: or misconceptions with consumers that are unable to differentiate between 143 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: climate change issues and broader environmental topics around recycling and sustainability, 144 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: they really conflate the two things. So the more that 145 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,240 Speaker 1: you know a policy making can almost leverage that misconception 146 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: in some ways, and past climate policies that are part 147 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: of a broader sustainability package or or infrastructure package better. 148 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: The other thing we saw really high support levels for 149 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: in in some more recent surveys and one published by 150 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: Morning Console, was support amongst both Republicans and Democrats to 151 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: require public companies to disclose those climate res So there 152 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: is kind of a little bit of appetite their regulation 153 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: around reporting. Not necessarily for action, but you know, it's 154 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: a starting point just to to get some days to 155 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: get the data into that those decisions can be made 156 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: down the track. Can I say kind of after will question, 157 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: do you think this stuff matters? I mean, like, one 158 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: way I've always looked at renewable energy and maybe they're 159 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: showing my cards too much to the to the public, 160 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: is that one benefit of it is if you just 161 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: make the energy green, people don't necessarily have to think 162 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:09,520 Speaker 1: about it so much when they turn on their light switch. 163 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:13,280 Speaker 1: So if you put an infrastructure deal through and you 164 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: green things and you make things more sustainable, you let 165 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: the public go on living as they were, and things 166 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:23,440 Speaker 1: just get greener and more sustainable. So does public opinion 167 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: matter as much or are they actually the ones? You know? 168 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: Are they going to vote people out for doing an 169 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: infrastructure bill and things like that. So there's two pieces 170 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: that I think kind of up until now or maybe 171 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: in the near future, that kind of thought process does hold. 172 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,400 Speaker 1: But the moment you start to plan and go about 173 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: implementing a path toward zero, it gets much more complicated. Yes, 174 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: you can decarbonize the infrastructure that supplies consumers, but really 175 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: it's unlikely to get you far enough, and you need 176 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: to start thinking about how can you decarbonize the technologies 177 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: of the consumers use themselves, or even better, how do 178 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: you change consumers behavior. So in two of those three scenarios, 179 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,560 Speaker 1: and likely you'll need to implement all three, you really 180 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: do need consumers on board. And the second part of 181 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:06,720 Speaker 1: it is that consumers aren't just there to use energy. 182 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: They're also better put governments in place and said about 183 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: their political priorities. So if consumers don't understand and don't 184 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: drive the policies, then you know, be forever in this 185 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: situation where policy makers where I'm sitting in Australia or 186 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: you know, across the U S. And other countries are 187 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: able to kind of, you know, see this really partisan division. 188 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: What we can see is climate change remains at outwege 189 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 1: issue in those countries. Within a Pew Research Center study 190 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: that you called the Pine, just staying with the US 191 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 1: for a moment longer, you saw some demographic leans in 192 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:40,679 Speaker 1: terms of Republican versus Democrat, and you didn't see too much. 193 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: I mean, you start a breakdown between male and female, 194 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:46,599 Speaker 1: but where you really saw differences were in age and 195 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: in race. What were some of the findings that we 196 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: had in the regard It's interesting because you do see 197 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: a division between race. It's fifty percentage points difference between 198 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:00,040 Speaker 1: the white population believes that dealing with climate change a 199 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: priority versus you know, this is the Hispanic community, where 200 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,439 Speaker 1: the white look Caucasian community is a much lower percentage 201 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: you believe that similar thing with age, you see that 202 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: your younger people more likely to see that as a priority. 203 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,040 Speaker 1: For this year, eighteen nine year olds is just two 204 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: of fifty to sixty four year olds and a little 205 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: bit of a gender divide, you know, six percent men 206 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 1: at thirty five percent. Women at forty one percent believe 207 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: in climate change an issue. And we already said before 208 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: that in that separate global pole produced by the UN 209 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: d P, the US was really low in terms of 210 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,559 Speaker 1: division on education. Just having a post secondary education just 211 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 1: makes you just one percent more likely to believe the 212 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: climate change of emergency than if you don't have that 213 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: post secondary education. So the US is, you know, there's 214 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: there's divisions in some ways, but all of this this 215 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: is really dwarfed by the partisan division forty four percent 216 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: divide between Republicans and Democrats in saying the president's priority 217 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: of this president in Congress to deal with climate change 218 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: this year. Now for a very short break, stay with us. Well, 219 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: so let's of the US for a moment, although we're 220 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: going to come back and I think specifically around some 221 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: of the events and recently regarding the cold snap in 222 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,959 Speaker 1: Texas and that how may change people's views in the 223 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: United States. But let's go all the way to the 224 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: other side of the world and let's look at Japan. 225 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:18,319 Speaker 1: So there was a japan awareness survey of eighteen year olds. 226 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,079 Speaker 1: Now you may have noticed in the news recently the 227 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: Japanese government has made a carbon neutral by fifty pledge 228 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 1: along with the number of other countries in the world. Actually, 229 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 1: what's really interesting here is around whether or not the 230 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: eighteen year olds actually believe it's going to happen. So 231 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: what did we learn. It's industry survey. It's a server 232 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: that the Nippon Foundation does every year of a Japanese 233 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:42,599 Speaker 1: eighteen year old and always as a theme, and this 234 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,640 Speaker 1: year's theme was around global warming and climate change. And 235 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: what it found is that, you know, the eighteen year 236 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: old understandably support that pledge. You know, sixt eighteen of 237 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: Japanese eighteen year old support that pledge to be carbon 238 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: neutral by But what's amazing is the only fourteen percent 239 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,280 Speaker 1: of them believe it will actually be achieved by There's 240 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: a real belief that pledges not achievable certainly on that timeline. 241 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: And even more so, there's a willingness in amongst Japanese culture, 242 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,600 Speaker 1: in Japanese youth culture, just to just say I don't 243 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,280 Speaker 1: know respondents, and I don't know whether that will be 244 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: met by. And we also dug a little deeper because 245 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: Japan in the UNDP Global Survey was the country that 246 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: stood out as having the lowest demographic division between young 247 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: and old, between different education levels, and between genders. And 248 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: then how about the older population, of which is I 249 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: believe the majority of the population in Japan. Yeah, well, 250 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: that's thoughts strange, right. We ever see other surveys across 251 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: the world whether the older population is more skeptical of 252 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:40,959 Speaker 1: climate chains or see as less of a risk and 253 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: certainly see less need to act upon it. But in 254 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,079 Speaker 1: Japan the total opposite is true. So if you look 255 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: at belief that I see sales can be phased out 256 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: by the mid twenty thirties amongst the older Japanese are 257 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: here of talking seventy plus, it's twelve percent of the 258 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,559 Speaker 1: older Japanese belief that target is definitely achievable, and over 259 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: a third believe it is may be not achieved by 260 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: the mid twenty thirties, but but achieved very soon thereafter. 261 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: So you've got quite a significant gap to all compared 262 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: to young Japanese adults. I think this is an interesting 263 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: one because you look at the source of this data, 264 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:17,079 Speaker 1: and it's actually the Japan Automobile Federation, so they have 265 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: a vested interest in understanding how people feel about internal 266 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: combustion engines versus electric vehicles. So it's it's always interesting 267 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: to see, you know, who's digging a little bit deeper 268 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,440 Speaker 1: on each of these questions. It is, and it's such 269 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: a counterintuitive result that I I dug a little deeper 270 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: myself and I approached our our team in Tokyo and 271 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:36,959 Speaker 1: to kind of understand what what could be driving this 272 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: sort of result when we tossed a few ideas back 273 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:40,920 Speaker 1: to the forward. But one thing that really stood out 274 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: is that thinking about this generation of of older Japanese, 275 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 1: the change that they have seen a witness in their lifetime. 276 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,839 Speaker 1: They have certainly seen dramatic economic change within Japan and 277 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: the emergence of Japan as as a technology powerhouse. And 278 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,679 Speaker 1: then secondly they also suffered through a number of industrial 279 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: waste crisis in the nine in fifties and sixties that 280 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,360 Speaker 1: resulted a number of health crises that would have shaped 281 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,559 Speaker 1: you in many ways their views on the pace of 282 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: change and the need to change in response to environmental issues. 283 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,319 Speaker 1: And maybe that's something the Japanese youth, or at least 284 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,319 Speaker 1: young adults kind of haven't experienced the witnessed is that 285 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: the key hue is it experiencing something related to climate 286 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: change as you mentioned this in Japan. It seems like 287 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: that's kind of what we've seen in China, although that's 288 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: not included in the in the study this time, but 289 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,200 Speaker 1: could that be also what's happening in the US. Maybe 290 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: with Texas they had the cold snap and then all 291 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: of a sudden, Yeah, people maybe started teams of tune 292 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: on on climate and activity or action towards it. Experience 293 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: does seem to matter. So we we saw that in 294 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: this survey of Japanese or it's one way to explain that, 295 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: so of Japanese consumers. You're right in China that we 296 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: also saw recalli belief in climate change and need for 297 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: action in Australia following the wildfires at the end of 298 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: and now we're starting to see data come out of 299 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: Texas UM and you're absolutely right. So there's no survey 300 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: unfortunately done before the cold snap in Texas that know 301 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: what what the starting positions were. What we see now 302 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: is that the surveys taken in the days following the polls, 303 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: sixty percent of Texas Republicans believe it's now a priority 304 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: to pass legislation to address climate change, compared to forty 305 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: per cent of Republicans across the country, so quite a 306 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: divide there. So we didn't see the same movement in Democrats. 307 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: It's of Texas nationally. It is a huge jump. If 308 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: this could explain it. You could also say that, you know, 309 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: Texas Republicans have seen changes over the last decade or 310 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: more regarding the wind turbines that have been built across 311 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: across the state. But this this number is stark and 312 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: um and and the fact that it was taken just 313 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: after the storm suggestedly dealing with and and experiencing these 314 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: sorts of climate catastrophes really can shape your belief It's unclear, 315 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 1: and in fact, the surveys I alluded to before, past 316 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: experiences in China, the US, China, Australia have made maybe 317 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: even Japan kind of show this might not last forever, 318 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: but in the immediate aftermath does seem that conservatives and 319 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: and and skeptics more broadly views can be changed as 320 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: a result of of of experience experiencing the effects of 321 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: climate change. But this is interesting that you point this 322 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: out because we're saying the effects of climate change, but 323 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: in reality, all of these are extreme weather events that 324 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: depending upon how you want to look at it, could 325 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: be linked to climate change have increased the probability of 326 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: these one in a hundred years one in a thousand 327 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: years storms, but there's no direct causal relationship that can 328 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: be unrefutedly connected. So the way that people look at 329 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: climate change but then experience it is actually through weather, 330 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: and as we know, whether in climate are very different. 331 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:48,800 Speaker 1: So I think one of the things that I find 332 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: really interesting is people experience these extreme weather events and 333 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: they say, don't want that to happen anymore. Could be 334 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: the climate change is the problem, and then they have 335 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: to figure out what the solution is. And you had 336 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,200 Speaker 1: some interesting data points in here regarding views around whether 337 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: or not wind power specifically and solar could be a 338 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: part of the solution, whether or not that was a 339 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: direction that Texas was looking at. Even if these consumers 340 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: don't don't believe they can change the weather, they have 341 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: experienced blackouts, they've experienced some sort of lifestyle disruption, if 342 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: not trauma over the last few weeks as a result 343 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:27,160 Speaker 1: of this, So they do need to start attributing blame 344 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: and even more so looking for solutions. One of the 345 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: other survey questions that was included in these boarding Console 346 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: polls was thinking about these solutions that Texans would support 347 00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: as a result of these storms, and what we saw 348 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: was across the board generally pretty high support levels amongst 349 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:47,560 Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats, but certainly amongst Texas. Texas Republicans for 350 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: modernization of the power system, energy storage, energy efficiency, and 351 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: resiliency efforts really kind of nondescript, no brains, no massive 352 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: political divide attached to them. But when it into clean 353 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: energy and increasing the use of clean energy solars when 354 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: we started, we suddenly see this partisan rift re emerge 355 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: and we see that I'm fifty two percent of Republicans 356 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,479 Speaker 1: across the country would support increased use of renewables. Yes, 357 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: it's still a majority of Republicans, but a very slim majority. 358 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: That number increases the sixty percent in Texas, so there 359 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: is a a an eight percent, a reasonable but not 360 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: overwhelming increase in the number of Texans that would support 361 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: clearly more additional clean energy. The contrast that with Democrats 362 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: at eighty seven and seven national ninety Texans Texas, so 363 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: a massive partisan divide there. I think really that comes 364 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: down to renewables being the wedge issue that climate changes 365 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: fought upon, which is really interesting and for those who 366 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: are not familiar with this extreme called staff that hit 367 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: you know, Texas and actually several surrounding states. We have 368 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: a podcast for that that we did right after the 369 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: storm happened that really explained the root causes in terms 370 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: of how the power structure has and one of the 371 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: things that came out very clearly was that the natural 372 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,719 Speaker 1: gas pipelines had a potentially bigger role to play than 373 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: the wind industry did in terms of causing these power outages. 374 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,600 Speaker 1: So it's it's very interesting to see the actual root 375 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: causes of the issue versus those things that are highly 376 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: politicized in terms of what ends up making people's decisions. 377 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: Moving on, actually a little bit to what do we 378 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,680 Speaker 1: do with this information? So if I'm listening to this 379 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:31,439 Speaker 1: and I'm working potentially at a corporation thinking about how 380 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: people think and feel about different things regarding climate change 381 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: and how their business should potentially act. If I'm working 382 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: at maybe a let's go with a consumer discretionary brand 383 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,879 Speaker 1: of sorts, what sorts of things would you look for 384 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: and would you take away from these sorts of studies 385 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,400 Speaker 1: to help influence the way you run your business. One 386 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: thing I think that maybe all these poles kind of 387 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: suggested aggregate is that the pace of policy change and 388 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,800 Speaker 1: consumers mandate ful policymakers too and at string of climate 389 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,760 Speaker 1: measures is related to climate change itself, and there is 390 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: this feedback loop between the effects of climate change, whether 391 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: effects or climate effects, changing perceptions and resulting in stronger, 392 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: stronger push and strong and and tightening policy across the board. 393 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: And I think that's really it's really going to be 394 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,639 Speaker 1: present in the massive economies that are that are highly 395 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: emitting and currently divisive, and that is the US, Russia, 396 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: and India. In these surveys, they're the countries that you 397 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: need to watch and watch for the effects of climate 398 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,399 Speaker 1: change because it will shape public opinion and ultimately change 399 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: change change of climate policies that the corporations are bound by. Okay, 400 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: so Hugh, last question, what did you find most surprising 401 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: in this round of research that you did. I think 402 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: the Japanese generations of the divide is fascinating because it 403 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,479 Speaker 1: goes against so many other surveys we've seen in other 404 00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: countries where the older generations are typically less earned by 405 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: climate change and its effects, and it's supportive of solutions 406 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: than the younger generations. In Japan. The absolute opposite is true. 407 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: But I think again that tied back to this bigger picture, 408 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: which is that the lived experience, the experience of environmental 409 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: catastrophe and climate change is really going to shape how 410 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: you see the future and the pace of change you 411 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: expect from your government. Really fascinating research. How often do 412 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: you produce these? And basically when are we going to 413 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,120 Speaker 1: have you back on the show again. It's been great 414 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: to be here. These consumer radars come out every quarter. 415 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: There's always a different theme depending on kind of what's 416 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: driving events at the time. Um and really we're trying 417 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: to unpick kind of what what what is what is 418 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: shaping preferences and giving give a leading indicator of this change. 419 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 1: It's been great having you here today. Thank you. Today's 420 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: episode of Switched on and was edited by Rex Warner, 421 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: the Great Stoak Media. Bloomberginni ACA is a service provided 422 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 1: by Bloomberg Finance LP and its affiliates. This recording does 423 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,679 Speaker 1: not constitute, nor should it be construed as investment advice, 424 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: investment recommendations, or a recommendation as to an investment or 425 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: other strategy. Bloombergin e F should not be considered as 426 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: information sufficient upon which to base an investment decision. Neither 427 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Finance LP, nor any of its affiliates makes any 428 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of 429 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: the information contained in this recording, and any liability as 430 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: a result of this recording is expressly disclaimed