According to a global survey of expats, the Czech Republic is more commitment to environment and sustainability than its neighbours Poland and Slovakia. But it’s miles behind ratings of Austria and Germany.

In early spring 2020, before coronavirus had spread across the world, InterNations asked more than 15,000 people to participate in their Expat Insider survey. Their results ranked countries based on environmental related issues.

Czechia didn’t fair too badly. Whilst it trailed behind Nordic countries such as Finland, it sailed ahead of the UK and countries across Asia while performing better than the global average. It sat at number 16 out of 60 countries and nearly all expats (97%) rate the country’s natural environment positively, compared to 82% globally.

The region settled at number 15 in the ‘Products & Utilities’ and the ‘Quality of Environment’ subcategories. The Products and utilities questions ask expats to rate the availability of green goods and services, such as renewable energy, organic food, and sustainable products. Additionally, they rated the country’s energy supply and it’s waste management and recycling efforts.

Meanwhile, the quality of the environment category looks at satisfaction with the natural environment, the local air quality, as well as water and sanitation. Only 74% of expats are satisfied with the local air quality in Czech, significantly less than 92% of respondents in Finland. However, one Russian expat did name “the beauty of the environment’’ as one of the best things about living in Czechia.

According to expats, political backing of and public interest in environmental issues is where the Czech Republic falls short. Coming in at 23rd place, just to three in five respondents (57%) agree that the government supports policies to protect the environment, which almost matches the 55% global average.

Respondents to the survey represent 173 nationalities who live in 181 countries or territories worldwide. Data was collected before the peak of the pandemic.