For Immediate Release
September 8, 2020

The Asahi Glass Foundation Announces the Results of the 29th Annual“Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”● The average time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock is now 9:47, the same as that in 2018 when the strongest

sense of environment crisis was felt since launching the survey in 1992.
● Respondents in Oceania and North America reported a higher sense of crisis, in the 10 o’clock range. Conversely,
respondents in Africa reported the lowest sense of crisis, in the 8 o’clock range, showing 2 hours difference fromthat in North America.
● As in previous years the survey respondents aged 60 or over tend to report more advanced times on the Clockthan other age groups.
● Since 2011, among the environmental issues to be taken into account, which are used to calculate the time on theClock, Climate Change has been the most often selected category.
● In terms of the time on the Clock, “Biosphere Integrity (Biodiversity),” as it did last year, has the time closest tomidnight.
● With regard to the transition to a decarbonized society, a positive change was seen from all three viewpoints,“Public Awareness,” “Policies and Legal System,” and “Social Infrastructure.”● The category most commonly identified as showing signs of improvement in approach was “Climate Change.”
The Asahi Glass Foundation (Chairman: Takuya Shimamura) has conducted an annual survey with environmental
experts from around the world since 1992. This year, we sent the questionnaire to 205 countries around the world,and received responses from 1,813 people in 137 countries. Below are the main points from this year’s questionnaire
results. Further details are available in the report of the “29th Annual Questionnaire on Environmental Problems andthe Survival of Humankind,” or online at the Foundation’s web site, starting at 11 a.m. September 8.
I. Awareness of the Crisis Facing Human Survival - The Environmental Doomsday ClockI-1 The Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock

Fig. 1 Change in the Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock Since 1992

・The time on the Clock for the world is 9:47, which is one minute closer to midnight than last year. This Year and2018 have recorded the closest time to midnight. (Fig. 1, 2)
・As with last year’s time of 9:46, respondents have shown a strong sense of crisis through the three consecutiveyears. The time on the Clock is now closer to midnight by almost two hours than when the survey was launched in
1992. (Fig. 2 and Table 1)

Fig. 2 Change in the Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock over Six Years
・Of the 10 regions surveyed, the time is closer to midnight than last year in five regions, whereas in the 5 remaining
regions the time is further from midnight. The time receded back in only 2 regions last year, Asia and Africa. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3 Regional Times on the Environmental Doomsday Clock
・The time on the Clock in Africa receded back by 25 minutes (8:59 to 8:34), compared to the time last year, but isstill in the 8 o’clock range compared to receding back from the time in 2010 by nearly two hours. (Fig. 3)
・The change in the time from last year is largest in Eastern Europe & former Soviet Union, 17 minutes (9:13 to9:30); the time on the Clock is over 50 minutes closer to midnight compared to the time (8:42) in 2018. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 4 Changes in the Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock since 1992
・In analyzing the changes in the time of the Clock since launching the survey, respondents have consistently
indicated times in the “extremely concerned” quadrant in the 9 o’clock range since 1996, with the exception of 2000.
(Fig. 4)I-2 Changes in the Times on the Environmental Doomsday Clock by Generation (2011 - 2020)
・While all age groups are developing a stronger sense of crisis each year, the result shows only a small change
overall from last year. (Fig. 5)・As in previous years the survey respondents aged 60 or over tend to report more advanced times on the Clock thanother age groups. (Fig. 5)・The survey respondents in all generations have been feeling sense of crisis, selecting “Extremely Concerned,”
every year since 2012. (Fig. 5)

Fig. 5 Changes in the Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock by Generation

II. “Environmental Issues to be Taken into Account” in Determining the Time on the Clock (World)
In determining the time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock, the questionnaire asked respondents to select, fromthe following nine categories of environmental problems, the three most pressing issues for the country or region
where they reside, and rank them in the order of importance.
(See the Questionnaire Report for further details.)
Nine Environmental Issues to be Taken into Account:
1. Climate Change, 2. Biosphere Integrity (Biodiversity), 3. Land-system Change (Land Use),
4. Biochemical Flows (Pollution/Contamination), 5. Water Resources, 6. Population, 7. Food,
8. Lifestyle (Consumption Habits), 9. Society, Economy and Environment, Policies, Measures
II-1 Weighted Average Selection Percentage of the Nine Environmental Issues
・The top two issues that the respondents selected in determining the time on the Environmental Doomsday Clocktime have remained unchanged for three years in a row: “Climate Change” ranked first (30%), followed by“Biosphere Integrity (Biodiversity)” at 14%. (Fig. 6)
II-2 Weighted Average Time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock of the Nine Environmental Issues
・When arranging the “Environmental Issues to be Taken into Account,” for the entire world on the Environmental
Doomsday Clock, “Biosphere Integrity (Biodiversity)” was at 9:57, “Climate Change” 9:52, and “Biochemical Flows(Pollution/Contamination)” 9:50. They were all closer to midnight than the world’s average time. (Fig. 5)・Last year, the time on the Clock for “Climate Change” was 9:44, two minutes earlier than the last year’s world
average. This year, however, the time is 9: 52, five minutes closer to midnight than the world average, indicating
growing sense of crisis about “Climate Change.”

Fig. 6 2020 Distribution of the Environmental Issues(showing selection rate of respondent's 3 most pressing issues as a percentage and the time on the clock)<The details regarding regional distribution of “Environmental Issues to be Taken into Account” are described insection III-1-2-5 of the Report.>
III. Signs of Improvement in the Approach to Environmental Issues: Comparison with the Situation Prior to2015 When the Paris Agreement and SDGs were adopted.
Signs of improvement were investigated from the three perspectives, (1) Public Awareness, (2) Policies and Legal
System, and (3) Social Infrastructure (Funds, Human Resources, Technologies, and Facilities). We asked the
respondent’s opinion on whether there have been signs of improvement in the approach to global environmental
issues with respect to a decarbonized society and where they saw signs of improvement from a list of “EnvironmentalIssues to be Taken into Account.”
We calculated the average score by quantifying the answers giving a score of “-2” for the answer “Definitely notshifting,” “-1” for the answer “Not really shifting,” “0” for the answer “Cannot say either way,” “+1” for the answer“Somewhat shifting,” and “+2” for the answer “Definitely shifting.”
III-1 Progress in a Transition to a Decarbonized Society
・A positive change was seen from all three viewpoints, “Public Awareness,” “Policies and Legal System,” and“Social Infrastructure.” (Fig. 7)
・Overall, the results indicated that there were some signs of improvement in the efforts to transition to a decarbonizedsociety but the same degree of progress was not made in “Policies and Legal System” and “Social Infrastructure” asin “Public Awareness.” (Fig. 7)

Fig. 7 Progress in a Transition to a Decarbonized Society: Score Ranges and Average Scores from 3 Perspectives

III-2 Categories Showing Signs of Improvement
・The category most frequently selected for showing signs of improvement was “Climate Change” at 28%, followedby “Lifestyle” and “Society, Economy and Environment, Policies, Measures” both at 14%. (Table 2)・Concerning efforts against “Climate Change,” the respondents see more improvements in “Public Awareness (1.28)”
than in “Policies and Legal System (0.59)” and “Social Infrastructure (0.75).” (Table 2)・Sixteen percent of the respondents replied “No improvement at all.” (Table 2)
Table 2. Signs of Improvement: Selection Percentage and Average Score in Signs of Improvement
Selected Category

Selection
Percentage (%)

PublicAwareness

Policies,
Legal System

Funds, Human Resources,Technologies and Facilities

Climate Change281.280.590.75

Lifestyle

14

1.09

0.52

0.60

Society, Economy and Environment, Policies, Measures

141.071.020.91

Biosphere Integrity (Biodiversity)

8

1.05

0.72

0.51

Biochemical Flows (Pollution/Contamination)

7

1.09

0.91

0.79

Water Resources

50.94

0.87

0.72

Land-System Change (Land Use)

30.70

0.66

0.45

Population

30.96

0.50

0.42

Food

2

1.33

0.85

0.90

No Sign of Improvement

16---<Regarding the awareness of signs of improvement in the approach to environmental issues, the details are shown inpage 25 and 26 of the Report.>

This survey includes a section where respondents are invited to provide their opinions and write about theenvironmental realities they face in their region of the world, as well as offer suggestions for improvement. Thisyear, we received a total of 935 comments from 113 countries abroad. These comments will be published on theAsahi Glass Foundation website at 11a.m. on September 8.
For more information, please contact:
Toshihiro Tanuma, PhD, Director, Commendation, “Blue Planet Prize”
The Asahi Glass Foundation
2nd Floor, Science Plaza 5-3 Yonbancho Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-0081, Japan
Phone: +81-3-5275-0620 Fax: +81-3-5275-0871 e-mail: post@af-info.or.jp URL: https://www.af-info.or.jp

Appendix● About the “Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”
Since 1992, the Asahi Glass Foundation has conducted a survey every year with experts around the world who areknowledgeable and are involved in environmental issues. The respondents are those who are working forgovernments, universities, research institutions, NGOs, corporations, and mass media. These experts are queried
about various endeavors to counter environmental problems. The questionnaire is produced in six languages (English,Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish) and is sent out in April every year, and collected by June. After theresponses are compiled and analyzed, the survey results are published in September. This year, the questionnaire wassent to respondents in 205 countries including Japan, with responses returned from 137 countries. The highest
respondent percentage by attribute is, universities and research institutions, corporations, NGOs/NPOs, central
governments, local governments, and mass media in descending order. (Fig.8, Table 3)
Table 3. Number of Countries Surveyed

Fig. 8 Breakdown of Respondents by Occupational Affiliation● Facts about This Year’s Questionnaire
Survey period: April to June 2020
Respondents: Environmental experts working for nationalor local governments, NGOs, NPOs, universities andresearch institutions, corporations, and mass media,worldwide (listed on the Asahi Glass Foundation
database).
Number of questionnaires mailed: 27,925 (26,779 tooverseas respondents and 1,146 to respondents in Japan)
Number of questionnaires returned: 1,813
Response rate: 6.5%Regions

Number of Countries

Africa54Asia25

Central America, The Caribbean

27

Eastern Europe & Formwe Soviet Union

28

Western Europe

23

Middle East

16North America

2Oceania

17South America

13Total205

Table 4. Number of Respondents SurveyedRegion
JapanOverseas
World Total
AfricaAsia
Central America, The Caribbean
Eastern Europe & Former Soviet Union
Western EuropeMiddle East
North America
OceaniaSouth America
World Total

Number of Respondents％365
1448
1813
861017
76
46
223
28
176
49112
1813

20.1
79.9
100
4.7
56.1
4.2
2.5
12.3
1.5
9.7
2.7
6.2
100

The Environmental Doomsday Clock"Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind"
Each year the Foundation conducts a survey of the sense of crisis felt by respondents about thecontinuance of the human race as the global environment continues to deteriorate, showing thetime using the hands on the Environmental Doomsday Clock, created by the Foundation.