With the perpetual sense of urgency surrounding crucial elections and the widely prevalent despair over tragic wars, it can sometimes seem like the pressing need for climate action has taken a back seat.
However, according to world’s largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change, People’s Climate Vote 2024 conducted by the UNDP and the University of Oxford, it is dominating our thoughts.
I found the results from this survey to be both surprising and hopeful. For instance, they found that 87 percent of the world’s population (surveyed) cares about the state of our planet! That’s a remarkable consensus in our deeply divided world.
It’s just one of their many compelling findings. Below you’ll find some brilliant graphics made by UNDP highlighting some other key findings.
Three reasons why I’m sharing this survey:
1. We don’t necessarily know what people are thinking, if we don’t ask the right questions: With all the arguments we see in public forums, we could be led to believe that we’re very attached to our prehistoric fuel. But the survey finds that 72% of people globally want their country to transition from fossil fuel to clean energy quickly.
2. Easy, shareable visuals: UNDP has broken down the findings from their enormous survey into accessible and relatable visuals. I think these should be widely shared and used to change archaic policies that don’t reflect what the majority of the world is thinking and feeling.
3. Hope: Lastly, and most importantly, to reassure those of us working on climate change mitigation (in whatever capacity) that it’s not a losing
battle – 81% of people globally want their country to plant trees and protect wildlife!
You can find the survey here: People’s Climate Vote 2024. If you’re interested in the topic, I can promise you, it’s not a long, dull read.
(Visuals below are by UNDP)
