A citizen walks in the rain in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

 

A record number of Australians are concerned about the impacts of climate change, a survey has found.

Think tank The Australia Institute (TAI) on Wednesday published its annual Climate of the Nation report, which tracks Australian attitudes to climate change.

The survey of nearly 2,000 Australians found that a record-high 79 percent agreed that climate change "is occurring", 80 percent think Australia is already experiencing the effects of climate change, 83 percent support closing coal-fired power stations and 71 percent think Australia should be a world-leader on climate change.

More than two thirds of respondents said Australia should have a national target for net zero emissions by 2050.

"Our research shows that, far from dampening the call for climate action, the COVID-19 crisis has strengthened Australian's resolve for all levels of government to take action on climate change," Richie Merzian from TAI told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Bushfires were the biggest impact respondents were worried about, up from 76 percent in 2019 to 82 percent, followed by droughts, extinction and the destruction of the iconic Great Barrier Reef, all of which were identified by approximately 80 percent of respondents.

"It shows climate change isn't just a fad that people care about when everything else is stable," Rebecca Colvin from Australian National University (ANU) said.

"It tells us one of the stories about climate change - we can always put it off until the next day - but we've done that for more than 30 years and we're now reaping the outcomes of that with the fires."