Executive Summary: The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024

The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 is the world’s largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change and the second edition of the Peoples’ Climate Vote global survey.

Over 73,000 people were surveyed in 77 countries, representing 87 percent of the world’s population, across eight months. This makes the second edition of the survey larger and more inclusive than the first edition in 2021, which covered 50 countries and 17 languages. Randomized telephone polling meant anyone with a mobile phone in any of the countries surveyed had the chance to take part.

The publication of the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 comes at a crucial time for domestic and international climate strategies and action, capturing how people are experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis and how they want world leaders to respond.

In the last year, leading scientific bodies have warned that climate change is accelerating faster than expected. Meanwhile, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels continue to rise and international tensions and conflicts are likewise on the increase. Many countries endured some of the worst extreme weather events to date – from the worst recorded wildfire season in Canada’s history that covered the east coast of Northern America in smoke for weeks, to devastating floods from Storm Daniel in Greece, Bulgaria, Türkiye and Libya, to Cyclone Freddy, and the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded that battered Mozambique and Madagascar. Every continent was impacted by extreme weather events in 2023, and vulnerable populations suffered particularly devastating consequences of these impacts, many of which are still recovering.

With more than half of the world’s population potentially voting in 2024, understanding how citizens are thinking about climate change is more important than ever.

The survey’s results can help decision-makers navigate this challenging context, and beyond, as governments begin to update their climate action plans (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) for submission in 2025 – which also marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Ahead of the UNFCCC climate conference, COP30, in 2025, countries will use NDCs to outline and communicate their pathways for climate action in line with the Paris Agreement. At COP29

undp.org peoplesclimate.vote | 9

in November 2024, governments will gather to discuss raising climate ambition, new climate finance commitments, and support needed to define and achieve updated NDCs.

The Peoples’ Climate Vote was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to connect people with policymakers.

Its purpose is to provide leaders with reliable information on what millions of people around the world think and feel about the climate emergency and actions they want world leaders to take.

The survey, conducted by GeoPoll on behalf of UNDP, was then collated and processed by analysts at the University of Oxford, who weighted the data to create representative estimates of public opinion. With such a large sample size, and rich socio-demographic information, 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.

The major findings of The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 are presented in four sections: The Peoples’ Perspective shares findings on the lived experience of climate change, such as how climate change impacts people’s daily lives. The Peoples’ Stocktake shows how people perceive climate action already being undertaken. The third section, Peoples’ Priorities, highlights what climate action people want their countries to take. The final section, Peoples’ Call for Collaboration, outlines how people want countries to work together on climate.

10 |

peoplesclimate.vote undp.org

The Peoples’ Perspective

• People are increasingly worried about climate change. Against a backdrop of record-breaking heat and climate impacts, a majority of people globally, and in 80 percent of the countries surveyed, are becoming more worried about climate change. The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 found over half (53 percent) of people globally said they were more worried about climate change than they were last year – compared with 15 percent of people who said that they were less worried.

• ›  There was a mounting concern about climate change in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), where six in ten (59 percent) people said they were more worried about climate change than they were last year. This is compared to half (50 percent) of people in G20 countries.
• ›  The countries where the most people were becoming more worried about climate change were Fiji (80 percent), Afghanistan (78 percent), Mexico and Türkiye (77 percent), while the country where the most people were becoming less worried about climate change was Saudi Arabia (53 percent).
• ›  Women were more likely than men to be increasingly worried about climate change over the last year (55 percent of women compared to 51 percent of men). Across all the regions of the world, women in Latin America and the Caribbean were most likely to say they have become more worried about climate change.
• ›  The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 found that older generations have become more worried about climate change. A majority of all age groups reported that they have become increasingly worried about climate change.

  • Climate change is on people’s minds. Over half (56 percent) of people globally said they have thought about climate change daily or weekly. Only around one in ten (11 percent) people said they never thought about climate change

1

• ›  The regions where the highest proportion of people were thinking about climate change daily were Arab States (47 percent), Latin America and the Caribbean (44 percent) and Sub- Saharan Africa (40 percent).
• ›  People in Uganda (62 percent), Sudan (61 percent) and El Salvador (56 percent) thought about climate change daily the most, while people in Jordan*1 (27 percent), Saudi Arabia (26 percent) and the United States (24 percent) were most likely to never think about climate change.
• ›  Women were more likely to think about climate change daily or weekly, compared to men. Globally, 57 percent of women said they thought about climate change at least weekly, compared to 55 percent of men. However, within 25 countries, there was a gender gap of more than 5 percentage points, the largest being in Türkiye, at 17 percentage points, with 69 percent of women saying they thought about climate change daily or weekly, compared with 52 percent of men.
• ›  In one-third (29 percent) of countries surveyed, majorities of people over the age of 60 were more likely to think about climate change either daily or at least weekly than younger generations.

  Countries marked with a single asterisk (*) had too few responses from certain socio-demographic groups to meet the very high-quality sample criteria. Estimates for these countries may be slightly less reliable and associated with a slightly larger margin of error than for others. See methodology for more details.

undp.org peoplesclimate.vote | 11

12 |

peoplesclimate.vote undp.org

• Big life decisions are impacted by climate change as extreme weather events continue to increase around the world. For over two-thirds of the world’s population (69 percent), these experiences have impacted people’s big decisions, such as where to live or work and what to buy.

• ›  This figure was notably higher in LDCs (74 percent) where climate impacts on big decisions tended to be greater, including around nine in ten people in Afghanistan (91 percent) and Niger (88 percent).
• ›  Similarly, climate-vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) were the most likely regional or economic grouping to say their big decisions were being affected by climate change (80 percent).

  • Extreme weather is becoming worse for most. Globally, nearly half (43 percent) of people said extreme weather events were worse than usual, compared with the previous year.

• ›  A significantly higher percentage of people in SIDS felt that extreme weather events were worse than the previous year compared to the global population overall, at 53 percent.
• ›  Countries where people were most likely to report that extreme weather events were worse than usual this year were Algeria (74 percent), Spain (73 percent) and Türkiye (72 percent).
• ›  Analysis of the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 reveals that those who experienced worse than usual extreme weather were more likely to think about climate change at least weekly (by 19 percentage points), had increased their worry about it more over the past year (by 37 percentage points) and factored it into big decisions (by 20 percentage points).
  

  The Peoples’ Stocktake

  • People are mixed on how their country is doing on climate. Across the world, approximately half (49 percent) of people said they thought their countries were doing well, compared with a quarter (25 percent) who said they were doing badly.

  • ›  The countries where people were most positive about their countries’ efforts were Saudi Arabia (81 percent), Bhutan (80 percent) and Ethiopia (78 percent), while the countries most likely to say their country was doing badly were Haiti (73 percent), Brazil (60 percent), Iran and Spain (55 percent).
  • ›  Women tended to be less satisfied with their country’s efforts on climate change. The gap was greatest in France (12 percentage points), Kenya (11 percentage points), China (10 percentage points) and Ethiopia and Russia (9 percentage points).

    • People are unconvinced by big businesses’ climate efforts. Just over one in three people (39 percent) globally said they think big businesses are doing well on addressing climate change.

• ›  Within countries, people’s approval of businesses’ actions to address climate change varies significantly – from 9 percent of people in Greece* to 57 percent of people in China and Saudi Arabia. Countries in Asia and the Pacific had the highest level of approval of businesses’ efforts to address climate change, at nearly half of people (48 percent).
• ›  However, just 14 percent of people globally said big businesses have had the biggest impact addressing climate change, compared with governments and other actors.

• People said the government is most impactful in addressing climate change. In 89 percent of countries surveyed, more people said their government has had the biggest impact addressing climate change than any other group, averaging 43 percent of people globally.

• ›  Around the world, people also acknowledged the impactful role of other groups in addressing climate change, such as big businesses (14 percent), the United Nations (13 percent) and campaigners and activists (12 percent).
• ›  Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and the Pacific were the most likely regions to say their governments had been the most impactful, at 48 percent each. People in Indonesia (75 percent), Tanzania (68 percent) and Cambodia (64 percent) were the most likely to say their government has had the biggest impact on climate change. Meanwhile, people in France and Haiti (14 percent) and Italy (9 percent) were the least likely to say so.
  

  The Peoples’ Priorities

  • Majorities want their countries to strengthen climate commitments. Globally, four in every five people (80 percent) called for their country to strengthen its commitments to address climate change.

• ›  People in more climate vulnerable regions and LDCs overwhelmingly called for stronger commitments to climate action. Nine in ten (89 percent) of people in LDCs said they wanted their country to strengthen its commitments to address climate change. Among G20 countries, this figure was still high, at three in four people (76 percent) who wanted stronger commitments.
• ›  This included large majorities of people in every country surveyed, including 20 of the world’s highest GHG emission levels surveyed, ranging from 66 percent of people in Russia and the United States, to 93 percent in Italy.
• ›  Women in some countries especially wanted stronger climate commitments compared with men, by 17 percentage points in Germany, 14 percentage points in Canada, 11 percentage points in Australia and the United States and 10 percentage points in France.
• ›  People who said their country was doing well to address climate change still wanted stronger climate commitments. While there were large numbers of people who thought their countries were doing well or very well on climate change, further analysis of the results of the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 found that 82 percent of such people also wanted their countries to strengthen their commitments to climate action.

  • People want to move away from fossil fuels quickly. Globally, 72 percent of people want their country to transition quickly from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Within 85 percent of countries (62 countries), a majority supported a quick transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

• ›  Majorities in the world’s 10 biggest oil, gas and coal-producing countries said they supported a fast transition away from fossil fuels, with the exceptions of Iraq (43 percent) and Russia (16 percent).
• ›  Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Northern America (Note: Northern America is used throughout the report to refer to Canada and the United States) were the least supportive of a quick transition away from fossil fuels. The low figures in their respective regions were represented by Russia (16 percent) and the United States (53 percent).

undp.org peoplesclimate.vote | 13

14 |

peoplesclimate.vote undp.org

› Public support for a rapid energy transition ranged significantly globally. The countries with the highest level of support were Italy, Nigeria and Türkiye (89 percent), while the weakest support came from Morocco (38 percent), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) (33 percent) and Russia (16 percent).

• People want more protection from extreme weather. Safeguarding communities against extreme weather events was cited by a majority of people around the world as a priority. Nearly eight in ten (78 percent) people globally wanted their country to provide more protection for people at risk of extreme weather impacts.

• ›  People in LDCs were more likely than those in other countries to support greater
  protection for those at risk (89 percent). This support was the strongest in many LDCs disproportionately impacted by climate extremes, such as Benin (97 percent) and Cambodia (96 percent).
• ›  Meanwhile, support was lowest in Germany (55 percent), the Czechia* (44 percent) and Papua New Guinea**2 (43 percent). Northern America was the region with the lowest level of support for providing more protection for people from extreme weather events, at 57 percent, with relatively low support in both Canada (62 percent) but especially the United States (57 percent).

  • People want much more action on nature. As climate change worsens the existing nature and biodiversity crises, protecting nature emerged as a priority for people globally. Four in five (81 percent) people globally said their country should do a lot to protect and restore nature, while only one in ten (13 percent) said their country should do a little. Still fewer (5 percent) said their country should do nothing at all to protect and restore nature.

› Countries with the lowest support for protecting and restoring nature – Japan and Papua New Guinea** – still had a majority of people calling for more support, at 52 and just over 50 percent, respectively.

• People want more climate change education in schools. Eight in ten (80 percent) of people globally called on schools in their country to teach more about climate change, while just 6 percent of people globally said schools should teach less about climate change.

2

Countries marked with a double asterisk (**) had many fewer than the required number of respondents from certain socio-demographic groups to meet the very high-quality sample criteria. Estimates for these countries may not adequately reflect the opinions of those groups and have higher margins of error. See methodology for more details.

› The proportion of those who wanted more climate education was higher in LDCs (93 percent) than in other countries. Support in those poorer countries was much higher than in the two richest regions of the world: Northern America (66 percent) and Western Europe (73 percent). Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa were the most supportive of increased climate education, at 93 percent and 92 percent, respectively.

The Peoples’ Call for Collaboration

• People want climate collaboration from countries. A huge majority (86 percent) of people globally said countries should put their disagreements aside and work together on addressing climate change.

• ›  This included four out of five (84 percent) people in the G20, led by Mexico (95 percent), France and Italy (93 percent) and large majorities of people in the European Union3 countries surveyed (92 percent) and five original BRICS4 countries (83 percent).
• ›  More educated groups were more supportive of international cooperation on climate change. While nearly three in four people (77 percent) surveyed who never attended school wanted countries to collaborate, a significantly higher proportion of those with primary
  (84 percent), secondary (87 percent) and post-secondary education (88 percent) wanted countries to collaborate on climate change.

  • People want more support for poorer countries on climate. The Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 found consistently high support for richer countries giving more help to poorer countries to address climate change. Over three in four people (79 percent) globally called for more help, as well as a majority of people in every country surveyed.

The call for more help for poorer countries to address climate change was most prominent in LDCs – some of the most climate vulnerable countries. There was a handful of countries where almost all people called for increased help for poorer countries, including Afghanistan and Haiti (97 percent), and Lao PDR (96 percent).

Within the six countries where women were significantly more in favor of richer countries giving more help to poorer countries, five are in the G20. These include the United States (by 18 percentage points), Australia (by 15 percentage points), Saudi Arabia (by 8 percentage points) and Brazil (7 percentage points). But the country with the largest gender gap in the opposite direction, India (6 percentage points), is also in the G20. The G20 is therefore a highly polarized group with respect to the gender gap in this discussion.