A global Ipsos survey finds public support for individual climate action is declining as energy affordability, security concerns and economic pressures increasingly influence attitudes towards climate change.
According to an Ipsos survey carried out globally, public backing for individuals taking climate action has gone down in various nations amid growing worries about energy costs, energy security, and geopolitical conflict.
The "People and Climate Change 2026" study was conducted in 31 nations and discovered that people today feel governments and companies should play bigger roles in climate change action.
As much as 61 percent of people feel their inaction will disappoint coming generations. Nonetheless, public endorsement for this position has weakened from 2021 among all surveyed nations. The greatest drop was witnessed in Brazil, followed by Mexico and India.
On the other hand, people still favor climate action. More than half the respondents said their nation needed to step up its actions on climate change. On the contrary, only 27 percent of those who were polled believe that their country is a global leader in fighting climate change.
Questions relating to energy issues were a major focus of the survey. Seventy-four percent of the people interviewed were worried about energy prices going up, and 63 percent of the respondents were worried about dependence on foreign energy. More than half of the interviewees indicated that they preferred energy self-sufficiency even if that meant higher prices for the commodity.
A majority (50%) of the respondents believed that governments should work towards ensuring that energy prices stay low, even if that means an increase in greenhouse gases.
Availability of energy was another issue of concern for the respondents. Only 46% felt that there would be enough electricity to satisfy demand in the future, while 39% feared that power outages might occur during the year.
Climate impacts continue to worry the public. Sixty-three percent of the people interviewed felt worried about extreme heat waves and storms, while 60 percent expressed their fears about drought.
According to the study results, climate change emerges as the foremost risk in the longer term, ahead of cyber risks, artificial intelligence, and geopolitical risks.
These results reflect an increasing impact that energy cost and security considerations have on people's attitudes toward climate policies, despite their continued climate risk concerns.
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