G6: Environmental attitudes and behaviours
Short Description
This indicator will track changes in people’s attitudes and behaviours relating to the environment, such as the importance people place on environmental issues, as well as behaviours in key policy areas relating to care for the environment. This may include positive behaviours to support the environment and sustainable use of natural resources, such as waste, water and energy.
Readiness and links to data
This indicator presents data on self-reported pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours from 2 of Natural England’s nationally representative surveys:
1) The Adults People and Nature Survey (A-PaNS) which began collecting data for adults on an on-going basis from 2 April 2020.
2) The Children’s People and Nature Survey (C-PaNS) which collects data for children twice yearly (beginning in 2021), once during school holiday-time and once in term-time.
More information on A-PaNS and C-PaNS methods, outputs and the full questionnaires, are available on the PaNS homepage.
Summary data for G6a to G6d are available in the Statistics and technical details for 2025 national indicators dataset.
Notes on indicator
The children’s environmental protection metric and pro-environmental behaviours index are not directly comparable to the adults’ measures due to the use of different questions and pro-environmental statements.
While there are similarities between the adults’ and children’s pro-environmental behaviours indices presented here in G6b and G6d and the social action indices presented in G5b and G5c, the G6 indicators are based on the actions individuals take themselves to directly benefit the environment, whereas the G5 indicators are based on the actions individuals take as part of communities and groups to make changes that benefit the environment.
Indicator components
Figure G6a: Percentage of adults in England reporting that protecting the environment is important to them, survey years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
Table G6a: Percentage of adults in England reporting that protecting the environment is important to them, survey years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
| Year | Don't know and prefer not to say | Important | Neither important nor unimportant | Not important |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/2021 | 0.00 | 85.99 | 11.10 | 2.91 |
| 2021/2022 | 0.02 | 86.38 | 10.87 | 2.74 |
| 2022/2023 | 0.00 | 86.29 | 11.35 | 2.36 |
| 2023/2024 | 0.00 | 87.67 | 10.00 | 2.33 |
Trend description for G6a
A-PaNS data show that from 2020/2021 to 2022/2023, 86% of adults reported that protecting the environment is important to them. This figure was 88% in 2023/2024.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.
Figure G6b: Adults' pro-environmental behaviour score as an index from 0 to 100, England, survey years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
Table G6b: Adults' pro-environmental behaviour score as an index from 0 to 100, England, survey years 2020/2021 to 2023/2024
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2020/2021 | 49.72 |
| 2021/2022 | 49.23 |
| 2022/2023 | 50.09 |
| 2023/2024 | 50.73 |
Trend description for G6b
A-PaNS data show that adults on average scored around 50 out of 100 on an index of reporting no pro-environmental behaviours (0) to high engagement with pro-environmental behaviours (100) from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024. On average, this equates to every adult carrying out half of the 9 pro-environmental behaviours included within this measure.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.
Figure G6c: Percentage of children in England reporting that looking after the environment is important to them, survey years 2021 to 2024
Table G6c: Percentage of children in England reporting that looking after the environment is important to them, survey years 2021 to 2024
| Year | 1. Not at all important | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5. Very important | Don't know and prefer not to say |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 0.85 | 1.67 | 14.73 | 34.14 | 45.40 | 3.20 |
| 2022 | 0.57 | 1.54 | 12.04 | 31.01 | 52.22 | 2.64 |
| 2023 | 0.52 | 1.47 | 12.67 | 30.46 | 53.47 | 1.42 |
| 2024 | 0.57 | 1.19 | 13.57 | 31.67 | 51.41 | 1.59 |
Trend description for G6c
C-PaNS data show that when asked about how important looking after the environment was to them on a scale of 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important), around half of children (45% in 2021, 52% in 2022, 53% in 2023 and 51% in 2024) said ‘5’ and around one-third (34% in 2021, 31% in 2022, 30% in 2023 and 32% in 2024) said ‘4’. Less than 3% said ‘2’ or ‘1’ in all 4 years.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.
Figure G6d: Children's pro-environmental behaviour score as an index from 0 to 100, England, survey years 2021 to 2024
Table G6d: Children's pro-environmental behaviour score as an index from 0 to 100, England, survey years 2021 to 2024
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 42.82 |
| 2022 | 45.28 |
| 2023 | 41.05 |
| 2024 | 38.96 |
Trend description for G6d
C-PaNS data show that children on average scored around 42 out of 100 (43 in 2021, 45 in 2022, 41 in 2023 and 39 in 2024) on an index of reporting no pro-environmental behaviours (0) to high engagement with pro-environmental behaviours (100). On average, this roughly equates to every child carrying out any 4 of the 9 pro-environmental behaviours included within this measure.
Assessment of change
No assessment of change was undertaken for this indicator as a suitable time series is not yet available in the Outcome Indicator Framework.