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Renewables are consistently popular, including locally – but the concept of NIMBY-ism (Not In My Back Yard) looms so large in the British psyche that the public (and even more so MPs) consistently overestimate the prevalence of people who oppose renewable technologies like onshore wind and solar being built in their area.
As numerous surveys and studies have shown, renewables are consistently more popular than fossil-fuel-based energy sources:
In common with wind power, though, there’s a perception gap: we underestimate this level of support, with only 39% thinking ‘other people’ would support (rather than oppose) living near a solar energy development. MPs also get it wrong, underestimating the level of support for solar and guessing that only 28% of their constituents would want to live near a solar farm.
Across the political spectrum, there are innovative proposals for overcoming this perception gap, which typically focus on delivering tangible benefits to local communities. But the struggle to convince elected representatives of the scale of public support for renewables, set against negative commentary in some (right-leaning) media, continues. It isn’t a recent phenomenon: there’s a longstanding challenge around how minority opposition to solar and onshore wind is amplified through media commentary, although Carbon Brief analysis shows newspapers across the political spectrum are now far more supportive of renewables than they were in the early 2010s (even if 2023 marked a high point for editorial opposition to some net zero goals).
But unlike onshore wind, where planning constraints have made developments almost impossible in some areas, solar power is proliferating. This is driven mainly by domestic (rooftop) installation, with campaigns from previously hesitant groups like the Campaign for Rural England advocating rooftop solar.
Labour, if it enters government, has pledged to remove fossil fuels from electricity generation by 2030. This ambitious goal has more support than opposition among the public, suggesting that whichever party is in power, speeding up the decarbonising of electricity generation would be seen favourably.
In fact, the latest Climate Barometer tracker data shows that although opposition is slightly higher among Conservative voters, there’s still a clear majority in favour of new pylons and power lines for carrying renewable energy built in the local area. Labour MPs in contrast underestimate the level of opposition currently being expressed in polls. If significant numbers of seats change hands at the next election, an accurate reading of public opinion will be crucial for candidates of all parties.
The government’s newly published Local Power Plan points the country in a direction that the British public support: clean energy that’s transparent, affordable, and delivers real benefits to communities and their local environments.
Our latest Climate Barometer tracker shows that people across the UK are in agreement on the top priorities for new infrastructure in their area. These are: the project’s impact on the local environment, what it means for energy bills, and whether it benefits the local community.
Though their order varies slightly, these three priorities are consistently the highest for all groups across age, gender, region, social grade, housing tenure, political affiliation, education level, ethnicity, and whether they live in urban or rural areas.
People’s views on climate change and net zero were fairly low on the list, highlighting (at least when it comes to specific clean energy projects) that local impacts and practical considerations loom larger for the public than the salience of climate change as a wider issue.
This doesn’t mean joining the dots with the risks of climate change and the benefits net zero can bring isn’t important – it’s crucial. But getting the delivery of policies like the Local Power Plan right is a key route to rebuilding climate salience and shoring up support for the wider net zero programme.
The government’s newly published Local Power Plan points the country in a direction that the British public support: clean energy that’s transparent, affordable, and delivers real benefits to communities and their local environments.
When we asked about the three most important factors for involving local communities on infrastructure proposals, both the public and MPs were most likely to select “clear, plain language information about the project and its impacts” and “being asked for views early, before decisions are made”. These were followed by “a clear explanation of how views influenced the final decision” for MPs and “independent or trusted organisations running the process” for the public.
When we asked which 3 factors people felt were most important in terms of influencing their support or opposition for local infrastructure projects, they picked: the project’s impact on the local environment, on energy bills and on the local community as the top considerations.
These three priorities are consistently the highest for all groups across age, gender, region, social grade, housing tenure, political support, education level, ethnicity, and whether they live in urban or rural areas; a rare point of alignment between these different subgroups of the public.
Strikingly, what made much less of a difference were people’s views about climate change and net zero.
This doesn’t mean that belief in (or concern about) climate change isn’t a critical foundation on which to build engagement around clean energy in general (this is the core idea behind linking the ‘how and the why’ on net zero, as we argued in our recent message testing work with Public First).
But when it comes to specific clean energy projects, the local impacts and financial considerations loom larger: as the transition becomes ever more place-based, this trend is only likely to accelerate.
Like support for the 2050 net zero target, support for renewables comfortably outpaces opposition. And people are much more likely to consider renewables as the route to building energy security than fossil fuels.
But there is a creeping growth in support for oil and gas – wrapped up in the very same conversation about energy security. Since the 2024 election, support among MPs for expanding drilling for oil and gas has inched up, driven by Conservative MPs pursuing an increasingly Reform-influenced agenda on domestic energy policy.
Yet, despite most Britons supporting clean energy, even when it means wind and solar farms in their local area, there remains a clear perception gap. As covered by Business Green, our most recent data shows that both the public and MPs continue to overestimate local opposition to these renewable developments.