Over 1.2 billion people believe that climate change is a ‘global emergency’

According to the world’s largest survey on climate change, majority of the global population has called for wide-ranging action

Almost two-thirds of over 1.2 million people surveyed worldwide have said that climate change is a “global emergency”, urging greater action to address the crisis, results from the biggest-ever climate poll revealed.

Issued on Wednesday, the UN Development Programme (UNDP)’s “People’s Climate Vote” poll also showed that people supported more comprehensive climate policies to respond to the challenges, reports Xinhua news agency.

The survey covered 50 countries with over half the world’s population. “The results of the survey clearly illustrate that urgent climate action has broad support amongst people around the globe, across nationalities, age, gender and education level,” Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator said in a news release.

The poll also showed how people want their policymakers to tackle the climate crisis.

“From climate-friendly farming to protecting nature, and investing in a green recovery from Covid-19, the survey brings the voice of the people to the forefront of the climate debate. It signals ways in which countries can move forward with public support as we work together to tackle this enormous challenge,”

Steiner added.

The UNDP said that the poll was the world’s biggest survey ever of public opinion on climate change.

It was conducted as countries prepare for negotiations at November’s COP26, the 26th session of Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The survey asked respondents if climate change was a global emergency and whether they supported 18 key climate policies across six action areas: economy, energy, transport, food and farms, nature, and protecting people.

Its target audience of 1.2 million included over half a million people under the age of 18, a key constituency on climate change that is typically unable to vote yet in regular elections.

In four out of five countries with the highest emissions from land-use change and enough data on policy preferences, the majority supported conserving forests and land. Nine out of 10 of the countries with the most urbanized populations backed more use of clean electric cars and buses, or bicycles. The survey also found a direct link between a person's level of education and their desire for climate action, according to UNDP.

There was very high recognition of the climate emergency among those who had attended university or college in all countries, from lower-income countries such as Bhutan (82 per cent) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (82 per cent), to wealthy countries like France (87 per cent) and Japan (82 per cent).