The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024, conducted for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) alongside the University of Oxford and GeoPoll, disclosed that four out of five people globally want governments to take stronger action to combat the climate crisis.
The survey involved over 73,000 participants across 77 countries, covering 87 different languages and representing 87% of the global population. Participants responded to 15 questions aimed at gauging their personal experiences with climate impacts and their expectations for global leadership in addressing these issues.
Findings show that 80% of respondents globally urge their governments to enhance efforts to combat climate change. Additionally, 86% favour international collaboration over geopolitical differences to address the issue, a notable stance amid rising global conflicts and nationalism.
This sentiment was strong among the largest global greenhouse gas emitters, with majorities ranging from 66 % of respondents in the United States and Russia, 67% in Germany, 73% in China, 77% in South Africa and India, 85% in Brazil, 88% in Iran and up to a striking 93 % in Italy advocating for more decisive climate action.
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% vs. 58%).
Furthermore, 72% of respondents globally support a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. This is true for countries among the top 10 biggest producers of oil, coal, or gas including majorities ranging from 89% in Nigeria to 54% of people in the United States. Only 7 percent of people globally said their country should not transition at all.
Globally, 56% of respondents said they think about climate change regularly, i.e. daily or weekly, including around 63% of those in the least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Climate concerns are increasingly influencing daily life and major decisions such as employment and residency, with 69 % of global respondents acknowledging the impact of climate change on these significant choices. This concern is even more pronounced in less developed countries, with 74 % feeling the effects.
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.”