Listen: it’s all green to me

One in four UK adults use terms related to the environment despite not fully knowing what they mean, according to new research.

Many new eco-terms have entered the lexicon in recent years, but 41% admit to pretending they understand what they mean just to appear with it or to avoid having to ask.

‘Greenwashing’ tops the list with 46% not understanding, closely followed by ‘biomass’ (38%) and ‘net zero’ (32%) – while the commonly-used ‘carbon offsetting’ confuses 26%, and ‘carbon neutral’ 22%.

This has been revealed as Smart Energy GB release its new report, titled Tackling Climate Change from Home: How To Turn Good Intentions into Positive Actions, offering recommendations to organisations on how best to communicate with the public about climate change.

Ros spoke to Iagan MacNeil from Smart Energy GB and Professor Paul Ekins, professor of resources and environmental policy at UCL.