Basque Country households scored close to the “good” range in the Environment Indicator in 2020

Private transport was the most widely used (39.4%) with a higher percentage than in 2015 (35.4%)

Basque families scored 6.7 points out of 10 in their level of awareness and habits that have an environmental impact, according to data prepared by Eustat. This score within the Environment Indicator represented a slight increase compared to the results from five years ago (+0.1).

This indicator is obtained via a summary of 75 questions within the Environment Survey for Families for 2020, and ranks Basque society as a whole on a scale of between 0 and 10 points, according to their level of awareness and their habits that have an environmental impact.

With regard to partial indicators of the 7 aspects of the Environment Indicator, Treatment of regular waste (9.1) obtained the best results and also performed better than in 2015 (+0.2). It was followed by the Treatment of occasional waste (7.9), Energy saving (6.9) and Environmental attitude (6.4) indicators, all of which saw an upward trend (between 0.1 and 0.2 points out of 10). The last indicator in this group was Water saving (6.4), which maintained the same score from 5 years ago.

The worst results were obtained in the indicators of Transport and mobility which, despite its downward trend (-0.1), retained its satisfactory score (5.3), and of Consumption patterns, which retained its unsatisfactory score (4.4 points out of 10), though it increased by 0.1 percentage points compared to 2015.

Families’ scores varied depending on their socio-demographic characteristics. 4-person families or families residing in municipalities of between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants scored highest in the Environment Indicator (6.8). Conversely, lowest score was obtained when the education level of the person of reference in the household was lower.

By province, the differences were not major. Gipuzkoa scored the most highly (6.8) overall, with Álava in second place (6.7), while Bizkaia (6.6) was the province with the lowest score, although it was higher than in 2015 (+0.1). The largest provincial differences were in the partial indicator of Treatment of regular waste, in which Gipuzkoa had the highest score (9.5) and saw the largest upward trend (+0.3), followed by Álava (9.2) and Bizkaia (8.8).

According to social-demographic characteristics, the score in the partial indicators increased as the level of education and level of income rose, with the exception of the partial indicator of Transport and mobility, in which lower income families scored the most highly (6.5).

The partial indicator of Consumption patterns still has not reached a satisfactory score

The habits that explain the low results in the Consumption patterns indicator (4.4) are: in just over half of Basque households, disposable products were frequently used (56.3%), while a minority habitually used returnable packaging (25.2%), rechargeable batteries (23.7%) and recycled paper (20.7%). When purchasing, more importance is attached to price, 86.5%, than to other factors.

On a positive note, it is worth mentioning, in the case of domestic appliances, that 80.5% of households consider energy efficiency to be important. Furthermore, over the last 5 years, the value placed on local produce (important for 79.1% of families) and on eco-label foods (67.2%) increased considerably (+12.9 percentage points).

Water-saving habits and treatment of waste were very commonplace among families

98.6% of Basque families had some kind of habit that reduced their water consumption. The most common were "defrosting food in advance rather than doing it under the tap" (89.5%) and "waiting to fill up the washing machine or dishwasher" (84.3%). At the extreme opposite, only 13.8% of Basque families had the habit of recycling water (+1.9 percentage points).

As regards the use of heating, 79.5% of families regulated it using a thermostat and, in these cases, the average temperature chosen was 20.2 degrees.

According to the treatment of different types of waste generated in the home, almost all Basque families correctly processed paper and cardboard waste (97.0%), plastics and metals (96.3%) and glass (96.2%). In general, most families correctly processed household waste including textiles and footwear (82.8%), electrical devices (80.5%), medicines (79.4%) or organic waste (74.5%).

The proper processing of mobile telephones (60.6%) increased the most in the last 5 years (+15.6 points). Lastly, less than half of Basque families (43.4%) correctly processed remains of household chemical and cleaning products, despite an increase of 7.2 percentage points in the last 5 years.

Almost all homes had a heating system and insulation of some kind

All occupied dwellings had electricity and the use of energy-saving lightbulbs was widespread (95.1%) and were becoming more common (+6.7 percentage points). Furthermore, there was a significant downturn in the use of fluorescent lights (-19.2 percentage points), which almost ceased to be a majority (50.4%).

95.8% of households had some kind of heating system, and gas heating was the most common system (65.6%). Specifically, half of dwellings had individual gas heating (54.0%) and its prevalence was much higher than other systems, such as electric (20.1%) or diesel heating (9.2%).

84.9% had some kind of water-saving device. The lever mixer or thermostatic tap was the most common (79.1%) and the use of tank discharge limiters rose by 5.9 points, which 45.7% of dwellings have.

Furthermore, 99.4% had some kind of isolation, most of the dwellings had shutters (96.3%) and double glazing was also very common (78.4%), increasing by 6.8 points compared to 2015.

20.1% of Basque families tolerate noise and 14.3% bad smells

One out of every five Basque families tolerated noise, 3.1 points fewer than in 2015. The main sources of noise were neighbours (9.4%), road traffic (8.3%) and mechanical noises (5.9%).

14.3% of families tolerated bad smells in their dwelling, with values very similar to those from 5 years ago (-0.9 points). The most common source of the bad smells continued to be pipes and sanitation (6.7%), and industrial activities (3.4%). Regardless of the seriousness of these problems, 1 out of every 3 families affected take some kind of measure against it, which usually takes the form of a complaint to the causer and, more rarely, reporting it.

Concern for the environment among the population has increased

Concern for the environment (+4.3) among the population increased: 97.2% of people aged 16 and over expressed their concern and 83.0% claimed to be very concerned, 11.3 percentage points more than 5 years ago. The population that had heard of environmental campaigns also increased (+12.7 points). In 2020, 61.7% of the population claimed to have heard of awareness campaigns for saving water and energy or recycling.

A quarter of the population claimed to have taken part in some kind of environment-related activity in 2020 (25.5%), the most common of which was by signing petitions against damaging situations (18.1%).

27.3% of the Basque population had found environmental problems in their surroundings, an increase of 7.5 percentage points in five years.

Almost the total population (91.7%) supported the adoption of environmental measures, such as reducing traffic noise (78.0%), restricting abusive water consumption (66.0%) or introducing an environmental tax on the most polluting fuels (60.5%).

Private transport was the most widely used (39.4%) with a higher percentage than in 2015 (35.4%)

71.3% of families had at least one vehicle for personal use. The presence of vehicles is linked to the size of the municipality – they are more common the smaller the municipality – and the higher the income, the more the number rises. On average, there were 1.4 vehicles per family unit, a figure which varied between 1.1 and 1.9 depending on variables such as the size of the municipality, family size or level of family income.

Among the population aged 16 and over, private transport (39.2%) and, mainly, the car (38.4%) was the most commonly used mode of transport. Journeys on foot or by bicycle, with 37.6%, are the second most common form of travel. Public transport was less used among the population (22.9%) and its use fell by 5.8 points.

By province, the predominant form of travel in Gipuzkoa was private transport (44.0%) and in Álava it was on foot or by bicycle (44.6%). In Bizkaia, journeys on foot or by bicycle (34.8%) and private transport (36.3%) were more balanced compared to public transport (28.9%). In the three provincial capitals, more journeys were made on foot or by bicycle (45.1%) and private transport was most used in the smallest municipalities (56.9%).

There were significant differences when travelling according to peoples’ gender. Private transport was most used by men (48.5%) and they did so at a much higher proportion (+17.5 points) than women (31.0%). Women, for their part, preferred to travel on foot or by bicycle (41.7%), with a difference of 8.4 points compared to men. Public transport was less used regardless of gender, but it was more used by women (+9.1).

Note: Some habits and assessments may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those related to transport and mobility.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62