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Summary
- People worldwide are concerned about climate change and support bold action by their governments to address it
- Concern about climate change is not limited to wealthy nations, with citizens in less developed countries often more worried due to experiencing climate impacts firsthand
- While global climate action is heavily supported, there are variations in attitudes towards energy transition, climate protection, and assistance to poorer nations based on country income levels
People all over the world are worried about climate change and want their governments to do more to cut planet-heating emissions and protect them from extreme weather, a UN survey of more than 75,000 people from 77 countries has found.
Cassie Flynn, climate lead for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the results were “undeniable evidence that people everywhere support bold climate action”.
While the top-line global figures are interesting, there’s a lot to be learned from comparing the countries too. You can use our search bars to check responses for the countries you’re interested in, but here are Climate Home’s five takeaways from the data:
1. Climate change is not just a rich-world concern
Concern about climate change is still sometimes presented as a luxury issue that worries only privileged people with nothing more immediate to care about.
But this poll – called the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, and conducted for the UNDP with the University of Oxford and GeoPoll – suggests that citizens of wealthier countries dwell on climate change much less often than those in the least developed countries.
Almost two-thirds of people in Uganda say they think about climate change every day while less than one-third of people in the US, Japan, China, France or the UK do the same.
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Read the full post at Climate Home News.
