These are the results of The People's Climate Vote, a survey conducted by UNDP in cooperation with Oxford University and GeoPol. It involved 73 thousand people from 77 countries.
A full report on the results is available on the survey website.
Respondents were asked about topics such as climate concerns and the phasing out of fossil fuels.
Does the world public support a phase-out of fossil fuels?
The survey found that 72% of people around the world want to move away from fossil fuels in favor of clean energy as soon as possible.
In the EU, this figure rose to 77%, indicating broad support for climate action, despite fears that recent election results could stall progress on the Green Deal.
Many of the world's largest oil, coal and gas producers are among the main proponents of emissions waivers:
- Nigeria and Turkey – both 89%;
- China – 80%;
- Germany – 76%;
- Saudi Arabia – 75%;
- Australia – 69%;
- USA – 54%.
Italy also showed strong support with 89% of people saying yes.
Russia was the least supportive of a rapid transition away from fossil fuels – only 16% of people were in favor of it. And why are we not even surprised?
Only 7% of people worldwide said their country should not switch to new fuels at all.
Societies are demanding stronger climate action from governments
Citizens of 20 countries that are the biggest polluters believe their governments are not doing enough to combat climate change.
Italians showed the most support for stronger climate action, with 93% of people voting in favor. In Iran, 88% of people agreed with this, in Brazil – 85%, in South Africa and India – 77%, in China – 73%, in Germany – 67%, in the USA and Russia – 66%.
In particular, 78% of people would like their country to provide more protection against extreme weather conditions, and 81% of people said that their country should do more to protect and restore nature.
80% of people said they wanted climate change to be taught more in schools.
In many high-emitting countries, women were more likely to support strengthening their countries' climate commitments. This trend is most evident in Germany, where 75% of women voted "yes" compared to 58% of men.
Are people concerned about climate change?
Globally, 56% of people said they think about climate change regularly – either daily or weekly. In the world's least developed countries (LDCs), which contribute the least to climate change but suffer its worst effects, this figure rose to 63%.
Concern about climate change has increased year-on-year, with 53% of people saying they are more concerned about climate change now than last year, and 43% saying extreme weather events have been worse than usual this year.
According to Professor Stephen Fisher, from Oxford University's Department of Sociology, the survey was a "huge scientific effort" that produced "some of the highest quality global data on public opinion on climate change that exists".
A special effort was made to include people from marginalized groups in the poorest parts of the world, including nine countries that had never been surveyed on climate change before.
"These results are irrefutable evidence that people around the world support strong climate action," said Cassie Flynn, UNDP's Climate Change Director.
She believes that this survey should become the basis for the next round of commitments under the Paris Agreement, which world leaders must adopt in 2025.
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that climate change can kill 14.5 million people by 2050. We also talked about a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact, which showed that increasing average temperatures could increase annual food inflation by up to 3.2% per year.
