Green Forum • 17 July, 2024 at 8:00 AM
A significant majority of people worldwide want their countries to switch to clean energy as quickly as possible to combat the climate crisis. According to the United Nation's second Peoples' Climate Vote, which surveyed over 73,000 people across 77 countries, 85% of respondents support a swift transition away from fossil fuels. This includes a majority in the world's top 10 oil, gas, and coal-producing countries.
Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) highlighted the surprising level of consensus, urging leaders and policymakers to take decisive action, especially as countries prepare their next round of climate action pledges. However, despite the overall consensus, there were notable differences in opinion.
The survey revealed that a majority (53%) of people are more worried about the climate crisis than they were last year. This concern is even higher in the least-developed countries (LDCs), where 60% of people expressed increased concern, compared to 50% in G20 countries.
The top 10 countries where concern about climate change has increased the most are:
Fiji (80%)
Afghanistan (78%)
Mexico (77%)
Türkiye (77%)
Paraguay (76%)
Republic of Korea (76%)
Brazil (76%)
Ecuador (76%)
Colombia (75%)
Guatemala (74%)
Conversely, Saudi Arabia showed the least increase in concern, with 53% of people worried about climate change over the past year.
In contrast to the 2021 poll, the 2024 survey shows that older people are now just as concerned about the climate crisis as younger people, with all age groups reporting increased worry. Notably, older generations, particularly in LDCs, are more likely to think about the climate crisis either daily or weekly compared to younger generations.
The survey also found that women have become more worried about the climate over the past year than men (55% vs. 51%), although both genders think about it regularly to a similar degree (57% for women; 55% for men).