Power to the People
4 years, 3 months, 2 days, 1 hour
20 April 2025
Governments should do more to explain the benefits of a green future.
The just published Ipsos People & Climate Change report is an extraordinarily comprehensive, global, view of attitudes towards climate change. And at its core is the remarkable finding that whilst the proportion of individuals who are concerned about climate change is rising (now to 74%), the proportion of individuals who feel they personally need to act has declined in every one of the 32 countries surveyed, since 2021.
What is behind this apparent inconsistency? The report posits rising costs of living and other pressures that may have diluted the inclination of individuals to feel they can or should be part of the solution.
But there are other possibilities. Perhaps there is a sense that some of the progress that has been made and widely publicised, for example around renewable energy, means the necessary change will happen anyway. Or, conversely, perhaps there is a sense that if some governments have decided they don’t want to act on climate change, why should I bother myself when it then probably won’t make any difference.
All of these boil down to a view that the individual is impotent in changing the big issues in society. Which we know isn’t true because history shows every individual can inspire another and be part of a movement that can, eventually, bring about democracy, the right of women to vote, the right to same-sex marriage, the downfall of a dictator, and a myriad other forms of progress.
And so individual action can and must help us on the path to decarbonisation. To support that, the report rightly says governments should do more to explain the benefits of a green future, including in lower costs to consumers.
The report is well worth a look for numerous other insights. The majority (just, 53%) agree that crossing the 1.5 degree threshold is a big deal. The wider benefits of decarbonisation, for example in terms of health and nature are recognised, and ‘Six in ten (60%) across 32 countries feel that if businesses don’t act now to combat climate change they will be failing their employees and customers’. I felt particularly happy about that one.
Although only a fifth trust the environmental claims made by companies. That is food for thought.