DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Renewable energy, Winter 2025, UK
Published 12 March 2026
© Crown copyright 2026
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/desnz-public-attitudes-tracker-winter-2025/desnz-public-attitudes-tracker-renewable-energy-winter-2025-uk
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 Winter 2025 wave of the Tracker, which ran from 4 November to 9 December 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. Winter 2025 = Win 2025).
The age-related findings are reported using six 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 three 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 two waves alongside the baseline (bar chart).
In Winter 2025, overall support for the use of renewable energy such as wind power, solar energy and biomass to provide electricity, fuel and heat was around eight in ten (78%), with opposition at 5%, both unchanged since Summer 2025 (no significant change).
Overall support has declined over time from 87% in Autumn 2021. In particular, strong support for renewable energy has declined from 54% in Autumn 2021 to 44% in Winter 2025.
Figure 2.1: Whether support use of renewable energy (% based on all people), Autumn 2021 to Winter 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 (5,556), 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), Winter 2025 (3,283) (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 Summer 2025, and between Summer 2025 and Winter 2025.
Analysis by subgroups
There was relatively little variation by demographic or other subgroups.
- Overall support for renewables was highest among people living in London (84%), and in the South West (83%); in contrast it was lowest in the West Midlands (67%).
- Levels of strong support were highest in London (54% vs 44% overall).
Great British Energy
A question has been asked each wave since Winter 2024 about Great British Energy (GBE), a government initiative set out in 2024. Respondents are 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 four nations of the UK’.
In Winter 2025, awareness remained stable at 57% (Figure 2.2). However, levels of knowledge (knowing a lot or a fair amount) decreased slightly between Summer 2025 and Winter 2025 from 13% to 11%. A quarter (25%) said they knew a little about GBE, while 22% said they knew hardly anything.
Figure 2.2: Awareness of Great British Energy (% based on all people), Winter 2024 to Winter 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), Winter 2025 (3,281).
Analysis by subgroups
Overall awareness and knowledge of GBE was higher among the following subgroups:
- Awareness was higher for those in age groups 16 to 34 (between 60% and 61%) and those aged 65 and over (62%), compared with between 49% and 51% of those in age groups 35 to 54.
- Self-reported knowledge (knowing a lot or a fair amount) about GBE was higher among people with a degree: 13% compared with 8% of those with no qualifications.
Clean Power 2030
A question has been asked in each wave since Spring 2025 about the government’s new clean power goal. Respondents are 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 (83%) were aware of Clean Power 2030, unchanged since Spring and Summer 2025. Three in ten (30%, down slightly from 33% in Summer 2025) said they knew a lot or a fair amount about this (Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3: Awareness of Clean Power 2030 (% based on all people), Spring 2025 to Winter 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), Winter 2025 (3,281).
Analysis by subgroups
Overall awareness of Clean Power 2030 was higher among the following subgroups:
- People aged 65 and over (92%) compared with those in age groups under 65 (between 73% and 87%); awareness was lowest for those aged 16 to 24 (73%).
- People with a degree: 86% compared with 79% of those with no qualifications.
Further findings on Renewable energy
- Support for specific types of renewable energy, see Spring 2025 report on Renewable Energy - section on ‘Support for different types of renewables’
- Attitudes towards renewable energy, see Spring 2025 report on Renewable Energy - section on ‘Attitudes towards renewable energy’
- Potential benefits that would make people more likely to support the construction of renewable energy infrastructure in their local area, see Summer 2025 report on Renewable Energy - section on ‘Benefits of renewable energy infrastructure’
- Attitudes towards the construction of windfarms and solar panels in their local area, see Summer 2025 report on Renewable Energy
- Attitudes towards the construction of windfarms and solar panels in their local area and reasons for these attitudes, see Spring 2025 report on Renewable Energy