First global survey on the climate crisis: "Yes, there is an emergency"
The afternoon sky was red from bushfires in the area around the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales, December 31, 2019. AFP / Archives
Text by: Agnès Rougier
5 mins
The United Nations Development Program, the UNDP, launched the first major public survey on the scale of 50 countries representing 56% of the world population: “People's climate vote”.
A central question: “Do you think the climate crisis is an emergency?
": More than 1.2 million people answered" yes ".
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This major survey took place over 3 months, between October and December 2020 during the Covid crisis, in 17 languages, and in 50 countries.
To reach as many people as possible and because the gaming industry has more users than all the other cultural industries combined, the UNDP has chosen to advertise in more than 4,000 games on smartphones, such as angry birds or the sudoku.
Even if the digital divide has played a role - the answers come mainly from urban centers in less developed countries - the survey has indeed reached its goal, since more than 2 million people responded, many of them young people under 18 years and women.
These results were processed by sociologists at the University of Oxford, who sorted them and classified them by groups of countries, regions, standards of living, gender, age.
The results are announced with a margin of error of +/- 2%, which is low.
A clear result
What is striking is the extent of the recognition of the planetary climate emergency, regardless of age, gender, or location: 64% on average answered “yes” to the main question.
Leading the way are small island states, with 74%, and high-income countries, 72%.
The questionnaire addressed 6 areas of political action in the face of climate change: economy, energy, transport, food, agriculture, nature and protection of populations, in 18 proposals.
It emerges that citizens do not believe in a magic solution, such as the electric car or solar energy, but want multisectoral policies to address this crisis, with priorities: forest and land conservation, especially in countries that have intense deforestation (60% in Brazil, 57% in Indonesia and Argentina).
In second place are renewable energies, mainly in the countries surveyed which emit the most greenhouse gases (76% in Australia, 73% in Canada, 71% in Germany, 69% in South Africa).
Then come sustainable agriculture and investments in companies and green jobs (all G20 countries surveyed, UK in the lead).
A main criterion: education
The survey shows that the main differentiating factor between the responses is the level of education.
Whether in Bhutan or the Democratic Republic of Congo, people with a post-baccalaureate degree mostly believe that the climate crisis is an emergency.
The second differentiating criterion is age: in all the countries surveyed, almost 70% of young people under the age of 18 consider that it is necessary to act quickly, against 58% among those over 60, but all the percentages remain high in all age groups.
Gender is not discriminatory, except in Nigeria, where men responded predominantly, but it is likely that the lower access to education and public responsibilities for women is responsible.
Hear the voice of citizens at a key moment
The objective of the UNDP, through this survey, was to give a voice to citizens, young people included.
However, 2021 is a strategic moment for the planet: States are planning an exit from the Covid crisis, and at the same time, they are preparing the announcements of their commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, these contributions that they will have to present at COP26 in Glasgow at the end of the year.
However, the study shows that a majority of citizens are showing an interest in climate policy.
For Sarah Bel, Director of Communication for Europe at UNDP: “
We were surprised by the extent of climate awareness and the desire to contribute that emerge from the survey (…) the results of the survey are distributed to officials, and the UNDP intends to work hand in hand with them to help them refine their climate policies.
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A second survey will be launched to reach citizens who were unable to respond due to the digital divide, especially in rural areas in low-income countries.
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