Official Statistics

DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Summer 2025, UK

Published 28 October 2025

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The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker is a nationally representative annual survey of adults (aged 16+) in the UK that tracks public awareness, attitudes and behaviours relating to the policies of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), such as energy and climate change.

This report provides a summary of the headline findings relating to renewable energy from the Summer 2025 wave of the Tracker, which ran from 8 July to 13 August 2025.

Notes for interpretation of findings

Differences between groups are only reported where they are statistically significant at the 95% confidence interval level.

The annual personal income referred to in the report is a self-reported measure.

Line charts included in this report, based on a longer time series, use abbreviated season names in the x-axis (e.g. Summer 2025 = Sum 2025). 

The age-related findings are reported using 6 age groups (16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 65 and over). In some cases, findings across age groups have been combined to describe a general trend, for example, ‘between 78% and 88% of people aged 45 and above’ refers to the range of percentages for the 3 age groups 45-54, 55-64 and 65+.

Please note that some of the geographical findings have fluctuated over time. These variations may, in part, be due to the base sizes in specific areas and the wide geographic area covered by regions.

Two summary self-reported measures are used in this report:

  • ‘Awareness’ encompasses all respondents who said they had heard of a particular concept or technology, including those who said they know ‘hardly anything but I’ve heard of this’, ‘a little’, ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a lot’.
  • ‘Knowledge’ encompasses those who said that they know ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a lot’ about a topic.

Support for renewable energy

Figure 2.1 displays both the longer-term trends in overall support for renewable energy (line chart) and the detailed data on support for the most recent 2 waves alongside the baseline (bar chart).

Overall support for the use of renewable energy such as wind power, solar energy and biomass to provide electricity, fuel and heat was 80% (unchanged from Spring 2025). This has declined from 87% in Autumn 2021. In particular, strong support for renewable energy has declined from 54% in Autumn 2021 to 46% in Summer 2025.

While opposition remains low, it has increased slightly over time from 1% in Autumn 2021 to 4% in Summer 2025.

Figure 2.1: Whether support use of renewable energy (% based on all people), Autumn 2021 to Summer 2025

RENEWSUPPORT. The next question is about renewable energy. This includes a number of different forms of energy, such as wind power, solar energy and biomass. Do you support or oppose the use of renewable energy for providing our electricity, fuel and heat?

Base: All wave respondents – Autumn 2021 (5,558), Winter 2021 (3,705), Spring 2022 (4,373), Summer 2022 (4,489), Autumn 2022 (4,160), Winter 2022 (3,572), Spring 2023 (4,403), Summer 2023 (3,997), Winter 2023 (3,724), Spring 2024 (4,087), Summer 2024 (3,642), Winter 2024 (3,212), Spring 2025 (3,412), Summer 2025 (3,529) (Asked each wave).

Note: On the line chart, arrows denote a significant difference between one wave and the next. For the bar chart, significant differences are noted between Autumn 2021 and Spring 2025, and between Spring 2025 and Summer 2025.

Analysis by subgroups[footnote 1]

  • Overall support for renewables was lowest among people living in Wales, and in Yorkshire and the Humber (both 69% vs 80% overall).
  • Levels of strong support were highest in London (55% vs 46% overall).

Attitudes towards local wind farms

People were asked more specifically how happy they would be for an onshore wind farm to be constructed in their local area. While this had previously only been asked in Spring waves, it was additionally asked in Summer 2025 to measure this more frequently and to act as context for a new question on renewable energy benefits (RENEWBENEFIT).

Overall views on local windfarm construction were mixed, with 35% reporting that they would be happy (very or fairly) for a windfarm to be constructed in their local area, 14% unhappy and 34% wouldn’t mind either way (Figure 2.2). Happiness for local windfarm construction has declined, from 43% in Spring 2024 and 37% in Spring 2025. This followed a period of stability between Spring 2022 and Spring 2024 where happiness levels stood at 43%.

The proportion of people that said they would be unhappy about a local wind farm dropped from 18% in Spring 2025, returning to a similar level as Spring 2024 (13%). Additionally, there has been an increase over the same period in people who reported that they would not mind either way (34% up from 31%) and that they do not think it would be possible in their area (12% up from 9%).

While there was a decrease in overall happiness, the proportion of those who said they would be very happy increased from 16% in Spring 2025 to 18% in Summer 2025, although this remained slightly lower than Spring 2024 (20%).

Figure 2.2: Whether would be happy for an onshore wind farm to be constructed in their local area (% based on all people), Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Summer 2025

WINDFARM. Now imagine that there are plans for an onshore wind farm to be constructed in your local area. How happy or unhappy would you be about this? If you already have this in your local area, answer on the basis of how you feel about this now?

Base: All wave respondents – Spring 2022 (4,361), Spring 2023 (4,398), Spring 2024 (4,076), Spring 2025 (3,409), Summer 2025 (3,520).

Note: On the line chart vertical scale has been reduced to 0-80%, and arrows denote a significant difference between one wave and the next. For the bar chart, significant differences are noted between Spring 2022 and Spring 2025, and between Spring 2025 and Summer 2025.

Analysis by subgroups

The proportion who said they would be unhappy (very or fairly unhappy) about a local windfarm was higher among the following subgroups:

  • People in age groups 45 and over (between 17% and 20%) compared with those in age groups under 45 (between 8% and 10%).
  • People living in the East Midlands, Wales and Scotland (all 20%); in contrast opposition was lowest in the North East (8%).
  • People living in rural areas (22%) compared with those in urban areas (12%).

Happiness (those feeling very or fairly happy) for a local windfarm was highest in the North East (42%), the South West (41%) and in the East of England (40%); it was lowest in Yorkshire and the Humber (28%).

Attitudes towards local solar farms

People were also asked about how happy they would be for a solar farm to be constructed in their local area. This question was also asked in Summer for the first time in 2025, following regular tracking in Spring waves.

Compared with the level of happiness for a local wind farm (35%), 43% said they would be happy (very or fairly happy) for a solar farm to be constructed in their local area (Figure 2.3). However, similar to the pattern for windfarms, while there has been a decline in support from Spring 2025, from 47% to 43%, those that reported not minding either way has increased from 29% in Spring 2024 to 32% in Summer 2025.

Figure 2.3: Whether would be happy for a solar panel farm to be constructed in their local area (% based on all people), Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Summer 2025

SOLARFARM. Now imagine that there are plans for a solar panel farm to be constructed in your local area. How happy or unhappy would you be about this? If you already have this in your local area, answer on the basis of how you feel about this now?

Base: All wave respondents – Spring 2022 (4,369), Spring 2023 (4,396), Spring 2024 (4,080), Spring 2025 (3,412), Summer 2025 (3,524).

Note: On the line chart, arrows denote a significant difference between one wave and the next. For the bar chart, significant differences are noted between Spring 2022 and Spring 2025, and between Spring 2025 and Summer 2025.

Analysis by subgroups

  • People in age groups 55 and over (36%) were less likely than all other age groups to be happy about local solar farm construction (between 46% and 49%).
  • Approval for this was highest in Northern Ireland (49%), the East of England (48%) and the South East (47%); in contrast it was lowest in Wales (32%), Scotland (34%), and Yorkshire and the Humber (34%).
  • People living in rural areas (23%) were more likely to say they would be unhappy about this compared with people living in urban areas (12%).

Benefits of renewable energy infrastructure

People were asked which of a list of possible benefits would make them more likely to support the construction of renewable energy infrastructure, such as solar and wind farms, in their local area. This question was asked for the first time in Summer 2025.

In Summer 2025, 84% of people said they would be incentivised by at least one of the listed benefits, although 11% said none of them would increase their support for local construction (Figure 2.4). At least half said that they would be incentivised by energy bill discounts for those living near new infrastructure (62%), funding for community projects such as home insulation, community facilities and local nature projects (59%) and provision of local jobs and apprenticeships (58%).

The opportunity to personally invest and have a stake in the new development was less of an incentive (34%).

Figure 2.4: What might encourage people to support construction of renewable energy infrastructure in local area (% based on all people), Summer 2025

RENEWBENEFIT. Which, if any, of the following might make you more likely to support the construction of renewable energy infrastructure such as solar and wind farms in your local area?

Base: All wave respondents – Summer 2025 (3,518).

Analysis by subgroups

By age:

  • People in age groups 55 and over were most likely to say none of the benefits would increase their support (between 15% and 16%), falling to 1% of those aged 16 to 24.
  • People aged 65 and over were least likely to be motivated by energy bill discounts (50%), this is much more of an incentive for those in age groups from 25 to 54 (between 67% and 72%).
  • People aged 65 and over were also less motivated by investment opportunities (20%) with this highest for those in age groups under 45 (between 41% and 45%).
  • An increase in local job opportunities was a greater motivator for those aged 16 to 24 (68%), less so for those in age groups 35 and over (between 56% and 57%).

By geography:

  • People living in the East Midlands (18%), the South East (16%) and the West Midlands (14%) were most likely to say none of the benefits would make them more likely to support new local infrastructure (compared with 11% overall).
  • Funding for community projects was more motivating for those living in the South West (64%) and the South East (62%); and it was least motivating for those in Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales (both 51%).
  • An increase in local job opportunities was also a greater incentive for those living in the South West (66%), along with people in Scotland (65%); and it was least motivating for those in the West Midlands and Northern Ireland (both 49%) and in Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands (both 50%).
  • People living in London were most motivated by the opportunity to invest in the new development (48%) with this being lowest in Yorkshire and the Humber (23%).
  • People living in rural areas were slightly more likely to say none of the benefits would make them more supportive (14%) compared with those in urban areas (10%).

Great British Energy

A new question was introduced in Winter 2024 about Great British Energy (GBE), a government initiative set out in 2024. Respondents were provided with a brief description as follows: ‘The UK government has set up a publicly owned, clean energy company, called Great British Energy. Great British Energy will operate in all 4 nations of the UK’.

In Summer 2025, there was little change in the levels of awareness or knowledge compared with those observed in previous waves: 59% said they were aware of GBE (Figure 2.5). Levels of knowledge remained low, with 13% saying they knew a lot or a fair amount about it. Around a quarter said they knew a little (24%) about GBE, while 22% said they knew hardly anything.

Figure 2.5: Awareness of Great British Energy (% based on all people), Winter 2024, Spring 2025, Summer 2025

GBEKNOW. Before today, how much, if anything, did you know about Great British Energy?

Base: All wave respondents – Winter 2024 (3,212), Spring 2025 (3,409), Summer 2025 (3,530).

Analysis by subgroups

Overall awareness of GBE was higher among the following subgroups:

  • People who said they knew a lot or a fair amount about Net Zero: 70% compared with 51% of those knowing a little or hardly anything and 31% of those unaware of Net Zero.
  • People living in Scotland (67%), the East Midlands (66%) and London (65%); in contrast the lowest levels of awareness were reported in Northern Ireland (44%).

Self-reported knowledge (knowing a lot or a fair amount) about GBE was higher among the following subgroups:

  • People with a degree: 17% compared with 11% of those with another kind of qualification or with no qualifications.
  • People who said they knew a lot or a fair amount about Net Zero: 21% compared with those who know a little or hardly anything and those unaware of Net Zero (both 3%).
  • People living in London (21%); in contrast the lowest levels were reported in Northern Ireland (6%) and the North West (7%).

Clean Power 2030

A new question was introduced in Spring 2025 about the government’s new clean power goal. Respondents were provided with a brief description as follows: ‘One of the government’s goals is to achieve Clean Power by 2030. This means generating at least 95% of electricity in Great Britain from clean sources, like wind and solar, by 2030’.

A majority of respondents are aware of Clean Power 2030, with 84% reporting some level of awareness, unchanged from Spring 2025. However, 33% said they knew a lot or a fair amount about it, up from 29% in Spring 2025 (Figure 2.6).

Figure 2.6: Awareness of Clean Power 2030 (% based on all people), Spring 2025, Summer 2025

CLEANPOWER2030. Before today, how much, if anything, did you know about this?

Base: All wave respondents – Spring 2025 (3,411), Summer 2025 (3,530).

Analysis by subgroups

Overall awareness of Clean Power 2030 was higher among the following subgroups:

  • People aged 65 and over (94%) compared with all those in age groups under 65 (between 73% and 87%); awareness was lowest for those aged 25 to 34 (73%).
  • People reporting that they knew a lot or a fair amount about Net Zero: 93% compared with 43% of those unaware of Net Zero.
  • People living in the West Midlands (90%) and Scotland (88%); in contrast the lowest levels of awareness were reported in Yorkshire and the Humber (78%).

Self-reported knowledge (knowing a lot or a fair amount) about Clean Power 2030 was higher among the following subgroups:

  • People aged 65 and over (44%) declining to between 25% and 28% of those in age groups under 45.
  • People with a degree: 39% compared with 31% of those with another kind of qualification and 26% of those with no qualifications.
  • People who said they knew a lot or a fair amount about Net Zero: 53% compared with 10% of those who know a little or hardly anything and 5% of those unaware of Net Zero.
  • People living in the South East (38%); in contrast the lowest levels of awareness were reported in Yorkshire and the Humber (24%).

Further findings on Renewable energy

  1. Other subgroup analysis is not included as no clear differences were reported. ↩

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