The biggest ever standalone public opinion survey on climate change, the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, shows 80 per cent – or four out of five - people globally want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.
Even more - 86 per cent - want to see their countries set aside geopolitical differences and work together on climate change. The scale of consensus is especially striking in the current global context of increased conflict and the rise of nationalism.
Over 73,000 people speaking 87 different languages across 77 countries were asked 15 questions on climate change for the survey, which was conducted for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) with the University of Oxford, UK and GeoPoll. The questions were designed to help understand how people are experiencing the impacts of climate change and how they want world leaders to respond. The 77 countries polled represent 87 per cent of the global population.
“The Peoples’ Climate Vote is loud and clear. Global citizens want their leaders to transcend their differences, to act now and to act boldly to fight the climate crisis,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. “The survey results – unprecedented in their coverage – reveal a level of consensus that is truly astonishing. We urge leaders and policymakers to take note, especially as countries develop their next round of climate action pledges – or ‘nationally determined contributions’ under the Paris Agreement. This is an issue that almost everyone, everywhere, can agree on.”
Biggest emitters support stronger climate action
The survey revealed support for stronger climate action in 20 of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, with majorities ranging from 66 per cent of people in the United States and Russia, to 67 per cent in Germany, 73 per cent in China, 77 per cent in South Africa and India, 85 per cent in Brazil, 88 per cent in Iran and up to 93 per cent in Italy.
In five big emitters (Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United States), women were more in favour of strengthening their country’s commitments by 10 to 17 percentage points. This gap was biggest in Germany, where women were 17 percentage points more likely than men to want more climate action (75 per cent vs 58 per cent)
Fossil fuel phaseout
Aside from a broad call for bolder climate action, the survey shows support by a global majority of 72 per cent in favour of a quick transition away from fossil fuels. This is true for countries among the top 10 biggest producers of oil, coal, or gas. This includes majorities ranging from 89 per cent in Nigeria to 54 per cent of people in the United States.
Only 7 per cent of people globally said their country should not transition at all.
Climate anxiety
People across the world reported that climate change was on their minds. Globally, 56 per cent said they were thinking about it regularly, i.e. daily or weekly, including some 63 per cent of those in Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
More than half of people globally said they were more worried than last year about climate change (53 per cent). The corresponding figure was higher for those in LDCs (59 per cent). On average across the nine Small Island Developing States (SIDS) surveyed, as much as 71 per cent said they were more worried than last year about climate change.
Sixty-nine percent of people globally said their big decisions like where to live or work were being impacted by climate change. The proportion so affected was higher in LDCs (74 per cent), but notably lower in Western and Northern Europe (52 per cent) and Northern America (42 per cent).
Prof. Stephen Fisher, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, said: “A survey of this size was a huge scientific endeavour. While maintaining rigorous methodology, special efforts were also made to include people from marginalised groups in the poorest parts of the world. This is some of the very highest quality global data on public opinions on climate change available.”
Cassie Flynn, Global Director of Climate Change, UNDP, said: “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. The Peoples’ Climate Vote has enlisted the voices of people everywhere – including amongst groups traditionally the most difficult to poll. For example, people in nine of the 77 countries surveyed had never before been polled on climate change. The next two years stand as one of the best chances we have as the international community to ensure that warming stays under 1.5°. We stand ready to support policymakers in stepping up their efforts as they develop their climate action plans through our Climate Promise initiative.”
UNDP’s Climate Promise initiative has seen over 100 developing countries submit enhanced NDCs during the second revision cycle – of which 91 per cent raised their targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and 93 per cent also strengthened adaptation goals.
The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 is the second edition of the global survey carried out by UNDP and the University of Oxford. The first Peoples’ Climate Vote took place in 2021 and surveyed people across 50 countries through adverts in popular mobile gaming apps. The polling method for this edition differs from The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2021. Therefore, questions and responses are not comparable across the two reports.
The 2024 edition included 15 questions that asked how people’s day-to-day lives are impacted by climate change, how they feel it is being addressed in their countries and what they would like the world to do about it. The results give the most comprehensive public account yet of how people feel and respond to climate change.
The University of Oxford team was primarily involved in processing data and producing the statistical output. Polling was conducted by international polling firm, GeoPoll, via randomised mobile telephone calling. Randomisation meant almost everyone with a phone in any country had a chance of participating, whereas, in the previous poll, people needed a broadband connection. No one could opt in without being randomly selected, and no one could participate more than once.
The polling results were collated and processed by survey research experts at the University of Oxford, who weighted the sample to make it representative of the age, gender, and education population profiles of the countries in the survey.
Over 10 per cent (9,321 respondents) of the total sample comprised people who never went to school. Of those, 1241 were women over 60 who never went to school. These are some of the very hardest-to-reach groups to poll. People in nine of the 77 countries surveyed had never before been polled on climate change. Under-18s were polled in countries where it was legal and viable to do so.
The country-level estimates quoted above have margins of error no larger than + or - 3 percentage points. The margin of error for SIDS and some regions is + or -1, and even lower for big regions and global estimates. Global, regional and LDC figures are overall estimates, which is possible given the high levels of population coverage of those groupings. Figures for SIDS are a population-weighted average over the nine SIDS surveyed.
Find out more about the Peoples’ Climate Vote, including the global results, at http://peoplesclimate.vote/ .
About the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP is the leading United Nations organisation fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.
About University of Oxford Department of Sociology
Oxford Sociology is at the forefront of ground-breaking empirical research which spans the full spectrum of the social world. We apply a diverse range of rigorous methods to real-world issues in order to address the most pressing societal challenges of our times. Our commitment to collaborative research ensures that our researchers have the freedom to transcend disciplinary boundaries, foster international partnerships, and explore innovative research. Some of the themes that our researchers are currently working on include social inequality, demography, political sociology, gender and the family, cybercrime and justice, computational social science, and the Covid-19 Pandemic.
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