Four in five people want more climate action: UN survey

NEW YORK – Four in every five people want their country to strengthen its commitments to addressing climate change, according to a global poll of 75,000 participants published on June 20.

The survey by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford University and GeoPoll posed 15 questions by randomised telephone calls to people in 77 countries representing 87 per cent of the world’s population.

The key finding of the poll, called The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, was that 80 per cent of respondents want their governments to increase efforts to fight against global warming.

Poorer countries beat this drum the loudest, with 89 per cent in favour, though appetite is also high in the wealthy Group of 20 nations (76 per cent), according to the survey.

China (73 per cent) and the US (66 per cent) – the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters – also saw a majority of respondents in favour of climate action.

“As world leaders decide on the next round of pledges under the Paris Agreement by 2025, these results are undeniable evidence that people everywhere support bold climate action,” said UNDP global climate director Cassie Flynn.

A majority of respondents in 62 of the 77 countries surveyed said they supported a quick transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

These included China (80 per cent) and the United States (54 per cent), but in Russia, just 16 per cent of poll participants were in favour.

Worries about global warming have also increased, the survey found, with 56 per cent saying they think about climate change at least once a week.

More than half (53 per cent) of those surveyed said they were more worried about climate change than in 2023, compared with 15 per cent who said they were less worried.

Leading the rise in climate anxiety is Fiji, where 80 per cent are more concerned compared with a year ago, followed by Afghanistan (78 per cent) and Turkey (77 per cent).

Saudi Arabia saw the lowest increase in climate fears, with 25 per cent more worried, followed by Russia (34 per cent), Czech Republic (36 per cent) and China (39 per cent).

More than two-thirds of survey respondents (69 per cent) said that global warming had impacted their life decisions, such as where to live or work and what to buy.

But UNDP head Achim Steiner said these concerns do not necessarily translate into electoral and consumer decisions.

“I would do more. But the others won’t. So I will not do anything,” Mr Steiner said of what he called people’s “perception gap” on climate action. AFP