IELTS Writing Task 2: Environment sample answer — Band 9

It is sometimes argued that environmental damage is too large a problem for ordinary people to influence, and that responsibility lies solely with governments and corporations. While I accept that institutional action is decisive, I disagree with the view that individuals are powerless; in my opinion, the two operate together rather than in isolation.

Those who downplay personal responsibility have a reasonable starting point. The scale of industrial emissions dwarfs anything a single household produces, and only regulation can compel polluting industries to change. A family that recycles diligently, for instance, offsets a negligible fraction of the output of a coal-fired power station. It follows that without binding policy — carbon pricing, emissions caps, investment in clean infrastructure — individual effort alone cannot reverse the trend.

Nevertheless, treating citizens as bystanders is both inaccurate and counterproductive. Consumer demand shapes what companies produce: the rapid growth of electric vehicles and plant-based food was driven by millions of individual choices long before it was mandated. Equally important, individuals are also voters, and the political will to pass ambitious climate legislation depends on a public that cares enough to demand it. In this sense personal action and institutional action reinforce one another, and dismissing the former quietly erodes the pressure that produces the latter.

In conclusion, although governments and large companies hold the levers that matter most, it does not follow that individuals can do little. Their choices steer markets and, crucially, the politics that compel institutions to act. The most effective response, therefore, is not to choose between the two but to recognise that meaningful change requires both.