According to a global survey with 75,000 participants released on Thursday, four out of five people want their nation to increase its efforts to combating climate change.
The UN Development Program, Oxford University, and GeoPoll conducted a survey with 77 countries, or 87% of the world’s population, using randomized phone calls. The survey consisted of 15 questions.
The main conclusion was that eighty percent of respondents desired more government action to combat global warming.
According to the survey, 89 percent of respondents from poorer countries are in favor of this, while 76 percent of respondents from wealthier G20 countries are also quite receptive.
China (73 percent) and the United States (66 percent) — the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters — also saw a majority of respondents in favor 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 Cassie Flynn, UNDP global climate director.
In 62 out of the 77 countries polled, most respondents said they were in favor of a swift switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy.
China (80 percent) and the US (54 percent) were among them, but only 16 percent of respondents in Russia agreed.
According to the survey, there is a growing concern about global warming, with 56% of respondents stating they consider climate change at least once a week.
Compared to 15% who said they were less concerned, over half (53%) of those surveyed stated they were more concerned about climate change than they were the previous year.
Leading the rise in climate anxiety is Fiji, where 80 percent are more concerned compared to a year ago, followed by Afghanistan (78 percent) and Turkey (77 percent).
With 25% more people concerned about the climate, Saudi Arabia had the least rise in concerns, followed by China (39%), Russia (34%), and the Czech Republic (36%).
Sixty-nine percent of poll participants claimed that decisions about where to live, work, and what to buy have been influenced by global warming.
The head of the UNDP, Achim Steiner, countered that voting and purchasing decisions are not always influenced by these worries.
“I would do more. But the others won’t. So I will not do anything,” Steiner said of what he called people’s “perception gap” on climate action.
