Public opinion on climate change

More recently, global surveys give much finer data, for example, in January 2021, the United Nations Development Programme published the results of The Peoples' Climate Vote.

The study also revealed that many countries and regions with high experience of disasters related to natural hazards, including those made more frequent and severe by climate change, are also those with low resilience.

[17] A 2021 survey conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) found that 75% of young British (16-24) respondents agreed with the view that climate change was a specifically capitalist problem.

[22][24][29] According to the European Investment Bank's climate survey from 2022, 84% of EU respondents stated that if we do not significantly cut back on our consumption of goods and energy in the near future, the negative effects would be non-reversible.

[34][35] A 2009 survey found that Europeans rated climate change as the second most serious problem facing the world, between "poverty, the lack of food and drinking water" and "a major global economic downturn".

[47] However, the public in Africa, where individuals are the most vulnerable to global warming while producing the least carbon dioxide, is the least aware – which translates into a low perception that it is a threat.

The top five emitters (China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan), who together emit half the world's greenhouse gases, vary in both awareness and concern.

[50] A 2010 survey of 14 industrialized countries found that skepticism about the danger of global warming was highest in Australia, Norway, New Zealand and the United States, in that order, correlating positively with per capita emissions of carbon dioxide.

Individuals residing in southern European nations are notably more concerned, with 65% considering adaptation a priority, which is 15 percentage points higher than the EU average.

[68] In the western US states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and California, older residents are more likely to support policies for building new fossil fuel power plants.

In the period after former President George W. Bush announced that the United States was leaving the Kyoto Treaty, European media and newspapers on both the left and right criticized the move.

As an example, conservative German Prime Ministers Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel have differed with other parties in Germany only on how to meet emissions reduction targets, not whether or not to establish or fulfill them.

[81] Contradicting previous literature indicating that climate beliefs are firmly held and invariable, the researchers said the results imply that opinions on the right are more susceptible to change.

[86] Scientific predictions of a temperature rise of two to three degrees Celsius over several decades do not respond with people, e.g. in North America, that experience similar swings during a single day.

[86] As scientists define global warming a problem of the future, a liability in "attention economy", pessimistic outlooks in general and assigning extreme weather to climate change have often been discredited or ridiculed (compare Gore effect) in the public arena.

As of May 2016, polls have repeatedly found that a majority of Republican voters, particularly young ones, believe the government should take action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

[95] Scientific analyses of international survey data show that right-wing orientation and individualism are strongly correlated to climate change denial in the US and other English-speaking countries, but much less in most non-English speaking nations.

[98] Income has a strong influence on public opinion regarding policies such as building more fossil fuel power plants or whether we should lighten up on environmental standards in industries.

After experiencing crop failures due to dry spells in Nepal, citizens were more likely find and incorporate adaptive strategies to fight thing from the vulnerability they face.

In a 2018 study of those residing near the Everglades, a prominent wetland ecosystem in Florida, participation in outdoor recreational activities, and elevation and distance from the shoreline of their residential location from the mean sea-level affected one's support in environmental conservation policy.

Another 2018 study found 56% of the recreational fishermen polled in the area said "being able to see other wildlife" was very or extremely important, and 60% reported being "very much concerned" about the health of the Everglades ecosystem.

After studying Portuguese public higher education institutions in 2021, those in the natural and environmental sciences are more inclined to do environment-friendly practices such as recycle and willingness to work for lower salaries for companies that commit to climate change action.

[126] Some journalists attribute the difference to climate change denial being propagated, mainly in the US, by business-centered organizations employing tactics worked out previously by the US tobacco lobby.

[146] While concern and desire for action has dropped in developed countries, awareness is higher; since 2000, twice as many people connect extreme weather events to human-caused climate change.

According to the Pew Research Center 74% consider climate change to be a serious problem and 77% say that it is harming people now, 20 points higher than the global median.

[157] When asked if they feel a personal responsibility to help reduce climate change, on a scale of 0, not at all, to 10, a great deal, Europeans respond with the average score of 5.6.

Two-thirds of Europeans (66%) support harsher government measures requiring people to adjust their behavior in order to combat climate change (72% of respondents under 30 would welcome such restrictions).

[155] A research team led by Yale University's Anthony Leiserowitz, conducted an audience segmentation analysis in 2011 for India—"Global Warming's Six Indias",[162] The 2011 study broke down the Indian public into six distinct audience groups based on climate change beliefs, attitudes, risk perceptions and policy preferences: informed (19%), experienced (24%), undecided (15%), unconcerned (15%), indifferent (11%), and the disengaged (16%).

Coupled with trust in different sources, mainly scientists and environmental organizations, higher usage of media and attention to news,[165] policy support, public engagement and belief in global warming are seen to increase.

In 2016, Shirley Fiske published a report which built on the "Six Americans" framework in order to identify the core cultural models from which Maryland farmers relate to and have opinions about climate change.

Causation: Results of a survey of public opinion in 31 countries, specifically among Facebook users, on the causes of climate change (by Yale Program on Climate Change Communication ). [ 1 ]
Perception of seriousness: Results of a survey overseen by the United Nations Development Programme on belief in whether climate change presents a climate emergency . [ 2 ]
A 2022 study found that the public substantially underestimates the degree of scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change. [ 8 ] Studies from 2019–2021 [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] found scientific consensus to range from 98.7–100%.
Almost six in ten respondents reported that a severe effect of climate change has already occurred where they live, with 38% expecting to be displaced from their homes in the next 25 years because of climate change. [ 42 ]
Changes in interest in climate change, as measured by use of "climate change" as a Google search term .
National political divides on the seriousness of climate change consistently correlate with political ideology, with right-wing opinion being more negative. [ 69 ]
Research found that 80–90% of Americans underestimate the prevalence of support for major climate change mitigation policies and climate concern. While 66–80% Americans support these policies, Americans estimate the prevalence to be 37–43%. Researchers have called this misperception a false social reality, a form of pluralistic ignorance . [ 70 ]
A broad range of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proposed, but public support differs consistently along party lines. [ 71 ]
Belief that human activity is the primary cause of climate change varies widely by religious affiliation, with less than one-third of white evangelical protestants holding that belief. [ 90 ]
A survey conducted in the European Union, US, and other countries found that its respondents feel lower-income countries affected by climate change should be compensated.
Chart showing different challenges and tensions of water visibility
Research found that 80–90% of Americans underestimate the prevalence of support for major climate change mitigation policies and climate concern among fellow Americans. While 66–80% Americans support these policies, Americans estimate the prevalence to be 37–43%—barely half as much. Researchers have called this misperception a false social reality , a form of pluralistic ignorance. [ 70 ] [ 108 ]
The public substantially underestimates the degree of scientific consensus that humans are causing climate change. [ 112 ] Studies from 2019–2021 [ 113 ] [ 114 ] [ 115 ] found scientific consensus to range from 98.7–100%.
September 2019 climate strike in Sydney, Australia
At least 72% of Chinese, American and European respondents to a 2020−2021 European Investment Bank climate survey stated that climate change had an impact on everyday life.
An increase in natural disasters, damage to the environment and rising temperatures are the biggest climate change-related concerns for Europeans surveyed by the European Investment Bank (2020-2021).
72% of the Europeans surveyed in European Investment Bank 's Climate Survey 2020 are optimistic about making a difference in climate change. [ 156 ]