Environmental activism: involvement, motivation, and potential : VCIOM: Russia Public Opinion Research Center

Environmental activism: involvement, motivation, and potential

Every second respondent has been involved in environmental activities to reduce ecological footprint over the recent year. Benefits for utility payments, discounts on leisure activities and additional days off are the three major measures to support environmental activism, according to the Russians.

06.06.2023

IN BRIEF

• Every second Russian reports to have been involved in environmental activities over the recent year (52%, 58% in 2021).;

• The best incentive for environmental activities is benefits to pay utility bills and discounts on public transport fares (45%). <br>

MOSCOW, 6 June 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey on environment.

Contribution to general good

Compared to 2021, Russian environmental activism has slightly declined: 52% say they have been involved in environmental activities aimed to reduce ecological footprint over the recent year (58% in 2021); 41% of the respondents oppose them.

Even though young persons are seen as active, entrepreneurial, open to the world and innovations, the 18-24-year-olds lose out to older generations in terms of environmental activism (47% of the 18-24-year-olds; 60% of the 25-34-year-olds; 61% of the 35-44-year-olds; 53% of the 45-59-year-olds). The most environmentally mindful ones are the Russians aged over 25 but under 60; younger cohort and those aged 60+ are less environmentally conscious.

Apart from the 25-44-year-olds, those who have been involved in environmental activities over the recent year are also respondents with higher education diplomas (64%), residents of Moscow and St Petersburg (60%), inhabitants of million-plus cities (59%), and regular Internet users (53-57%).

Instead of carrots and sticks

According to the Russians, incentives could increase involvement in environmental activism; it can be benefits to pay utility bills or discounts on public transport fares (45%). This is followed by discounts on cultural and leisure activities (21%) and extra days off work (18%). “Tangible” incentives such as certificates/letters of appreciation and souvenirs seem to be least attractive (9% and 7% respectively).

At the same time, every fifth Russian considers that incentives cannot be motivating (22%); young respondents aged 18-24 are less likely to share this stance (15%). Another 15% could not answer this question,

The three most popular incentives, such as benefits for utility payments and discounts on public transport fares, discounts on leisure activities and extra days off work, are preferred by economically active Russians aged 18-44. For instance, benefits for utility bill payments are mentioned by 51-57% of the 18-44-year-olds and only 33% of those aged 60+.

Benefits for utility payments and discounts on public transport fares equally attract Russians with varied income (44-48%); whereas discounts on leisure activities are preferred by those who have higher income (26% vs. 13% of those with poor income).
Additional days off and letters of appreciation are a good incentive for the budget workers (28% and 12% respectively), rather than respondents working in private sector (21% and 6% respectively). The latter, on the contrary, often say that incentives for environmental activities prove to be ineffective (23% vs. 18% of the budget workers).

In Russia, there are no famous eco activists who motivate people to take care about environment; an overwhelming part of the respondents are undecided when asked about famous Russians who promote environmental values (88%).

Environmental activism: awareness levels

The participants of the survey were proposed to choose from the list the environmental campaigns they are aware of. The Save the Forests all-Russian campaign is the most well-known (46%). This is followed, though with a wide gap, by Earth Day (28%). Almost equal shares of the Russians are informed about the Memory Garden action 18%) and Water of Russia (14%).

Thirty percent of the respondents have not heard of any environmental campaigns held in Russia; most often they are those who have not been involved in any environmental actions over the recent year (40% vs. 20% of those who have).

Awareness about environmental actions is shaped by gender, age, place of residence and media preferences:

Those who are likely to be aware of Save the Forests are women (51% vs. 39% of men), with higher and secondary special education (47% and 49% respectively), inhabitants of Moscow and St Petersburg (43-50% vs. 39% in both capitals) and who prefers television over the Internet (51%) or a mixed model of media consumption (48%).
The Russians who are aware of Earth Day are likely 18-44-year-old respondents (35-39%), who have higher education diplomas (40%), inhabitants of Moscow or St Petersburg (41%), and active Internet user (38%).
The Memory Garden action is often mentioned by women (22% vs. 14% of men) and those who work for state-run organizations (36% vs. 13% of those who work in private sector).
Water of Russia is the only action under consideration known mainly to those aed 60+ rather than young respondents (22% vs. 10-12% in other age groups).

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 19 May, 2023. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of May 19, 2023: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7656; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0176; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1444. Calculations are based on the corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

Have you or anyone in your family done anything over the recent year to reduce environmental damage, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents)
	2021*	2023
Those who have done something	58	52
Those who haven’t done anything	38	41
Don’t know	4	7

*in 2021 the question was: “Over the recent year have you or members of your family done anything to solve environmental problems, or not?”

Over the recent year have you or anyone in your family done anything to reduce environmental damage, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents)
	Total	Men	Women	Ages 18-24	25-34	35-44	45-59	60 +
Those who have done something	52	52	52	47	60	61	53	41
Those who haven’t done anything	41	41	40	45	33	36	40	48
Don’t know	7	7	8	8	7	3	7	11

In your opinion, what incentives could encourage people to do environmental activities? Choose no more than three answers (closed-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of total respondents)
	Total
Bonuses to pay utility bills, free or discounted public transport fares	45
Discounts on cultural and leisure activities	21
Additional days off work	18
Awarding with a certificate, a letter of appreciation	9
Souvenir	7
Financial incentives (from “other”)	4
Other	3
Incentives cannot encourage people to do environmental activities	22
I don’t know; undecided	15

Is there any famous Russian who would promote environmental activism? Please name two or three persons. They can be activists, representatives of the authorities or business. (open-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of total respondents)
	Total
Those who named anyone	7
Other	5
No one	<1
Those who could not mention any person; undecided	88

Have you heard of any environmental campaign in Russia? I will read out the activities, please tell me if you have heard of any of them. (closed-ended question, any number of answers, % of total respondents)
	Total
Save the Forests action	46
Earth Day	28
Memory Garden	18
Water of Russia	14
Neighborhood clean-up (from “Other”)	2
Tree-planting (from “Other”)	1
All-Russian No Network Day (from “Other”)	<1
Other (those who are aware of other environmental actions)	8
Those who did not hear about environmental actions in Russia акций	30
Don’t know	3

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