UN Global Climate Poll: ‘The People’s Voice Is Clear – They Want Action’

The Guardian - Damian Carrington

Biggest ever survey finds two-thirds of people think climate change is a global emergency

In countries where fossil fuels are a major source of emissions, people strongly supported renewable energy. Photograph: John Giles/PA

The biggest ever opinion poll on climate change has found two-thirds of people think it is a “global emergency”.

The survey shows people across the world support climate action and gives politicians a clear mandate to take the major action needed, according to the UN organisation that carried out the poll.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) questioned 1.2 million people in 50 countries, many of them young.

While younger people showed the greatest concern, with 69% of those aged 14-18 saying there is a climate emergency, 58% of those over 60 agreed, suggesting there is not a huge generational divide.

Even when climate action required significant changes in their own country, majorities still backed the measures.

In nations where fossil fuels are a major source of emissions, people strongly supported renewable energy, including the US (65% in favour), Australia (76%) and Russia (51%).

Guardian graphic. Source: UNDP

Where the destruction of forests is a big cause of emissions, people supported conservation of trees, with 60% support in Brazil and 57% in Indonesia. 

Overall, the most popular actions to tackle the climate crisis were protecting and restoring forests, followed by renewable energy and climate-friendly farming. The promotion of plant-based diets was the least popular of the 18 policies in the survey, with only 30% support.

Gender was a factor in some countries, with at least 5% more men and boys saying there is a climate emergency than women and girls in 16 countries. However, in four nations – the US, Australia, Canada and the UK – significantly more women and girls were concerned about global heating.

The UNDP ran the “Peoples’ Climate Vote” in 50 high-, middle- and low-income countries, representing more than half the world’s people. Experts at Oxford University weighted the replies to reflect the population of each nation.

Majority of all ages say climate change is a global emergency

Guardian graphic | Source: UNDP

“The voice of the people is clear – they want action on climate change,” said Cassie Flynn, the UNDP’s strategic adviser on climate change.“If 64% of the world’s people are believing in a climate emergency then it helps governments to respond to the climate crisis as an emergency.

“The key message is that, as governments are making these high-stakes decisions, the people are with them.”

Flynn said the survey connects the climate concerns of people, particularly the young, with governments at a time when accelerated action must be agreed, in particular at a UN climate summit in November. The climate crisis continued unabated in 2020, with the joint highest global temperatures on record.

“We are at a fork in the road and the poll says ‘this is how your future generations are thinking, in specific policy choices’ – it brings a way to envision the future,” she said.

Flynn heads the UNDP’s Climate Promise programme that helps countries take more ambitious climate action.

The poll found the highest proportion of people saying there is a climate emergency was in the UK and Italy, both at 81%. Australia was at 72% and the US at 65%, the same as Russia, and India was at 59%. Even the lowest proportion, in Moldova, was 50%.

The relatively low support for the promotion of plant-based diets may be because there are few plant-based options in some countries or people may have felt that diet is more of a personal choice, said the UNDP. Support was highest in Germany (44%) and the UK (43%).

The reason why more men and boys said there was a climate emergency than women and girls in countries such as Nigeria and Vietnam may be because girls have less access to education in those places.

The poll found that the more education a person had completed, the more likely they were to think there is a climate emergency. Why more women and girls are more concerned in the four English-speaking nations is unclear.

The poll was distributed via advertisements in video games and puzzles, including Angry Birds, Subway Surfers, Sudoku and Words With Friends, and this particularly helped reach younger people.

The idea came to Flynn when she was on the subway in New York City: “I looked around and everyone was on their phones and most were playing games.”

The data was collected between October and December 2020 and, despite the coronavirus pandemic, 59% of the people saying there is a climate emergency also said the world should “do everything necessary and urgently” in response.

Prof Stephen Fisher at Oxford University said: “The Peoples’ Climate Vote has delivered a treasure trove of data on public opinion that we’ve never seen before. Recognition of the climate emergency is much more widespread than previously thought.”

Links

• US returns to global climate arena with call to act on 'emergency' 
• Paris climate deal: world not on track to meet goal amid continuous emissions
• Oil and gas companies undermining climate goals, says report
• Fossil fuel dependence poses 'direct existential threat', warns UN chief
• The seven megatrends that could beat global warming: 'There is reason for hope'
• How India’s battle with climate change could determine all of our fates
• UK climate change masterplan – the grownups have finally won
• Global trade deal threatens Paris climate goals, leaked documents show
• Dangerous global warming will happen sooner than thought – study

Doomsday Clock Hovers Dangerously Close To Midnight, As Experts Warn Of 'Crossroads' On Climate Change

CBC News - Stephanie Dubois

The clock, introduced in 1947, is symbolic of how close humanity is to destroying civilization

Robert Rosner, left, and Suzet McKinney, members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' science and security board, revealed the 2021 setting of the Doomsday Clock on Wednesday, saying it would remain at 100 seconds to midnight. (Thomas Gaulkin/Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Wednesday the 2021 Doomsday Clock remains unchanged from its 2020 spot at 100 seconds to midnight, but experts warn the world is at a turning point.

"The Doomsday Clock continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to push the hands away from midnight," said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at Wednesday's announcement.

The clock, introduced in 1947, is a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to destroying civilization. It is maintained by a group of experts with the bulletin, a non-profit organization tracking man-made threats. 

Typically, the group moves the hands forward or back each year, depending on how vulnerable the world is. Midnight represents a catastrophe.

The clock was set to 100 seconds to midnight last year, the closest to midnight it has ever been.

(Kevin Kirk)

Pandemic a 'historic wake-up call'

Experts said at Wednesday's announcement the pandemic is an example of how governments and organizations are not ready for global emergencies.

"We recognize that humanity continues to suffer as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world. The pandemic will recede eventually," said Bronson.    

"Still, the pandemic serves as a historic wake-up call." 

It is, she said, a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are not prepared to manage complex and dangerous challenges, including nuclear weapons and climate change, which currently pose existential threats to humanity. 

The pandemic also brought on challenges as it sparked what the World Health Organization calls an infodemic, an overabundance of information that "includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals." 

"The COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying infodemic have become intertwined with critical uncertainties regarding science, technology, and crisis communications," reads the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' statement published on Wednesday.

The bulletin also noted in their statement that 2020 saw the effects of climate change around the world, including massive wildfires in North America and Australia and rising sea levels and melting sea ice and glaciers. 

The latest setting of the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to destroying civilization, remains unchanged from 2020 and is still at 100 seconds to midnight, which represents a catastrophe. (Thomas Gaulkin/Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)

The group of experts who are part of the non-profit organization also emphasized in their statement that last year also saw accelerating nuclear programs in multiple countries which "moved the world into less stable and manageable territory last year."

Positive developments factored into decision

In making their decision, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists also recognized that there were some positive developments.

One of those developments was the election of U.S. President Joe Biden, who recognizes climate change is a global threat and has already committed to having the U.S. rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change.

Those promising moves, among others, led the bulletin to keep the arms of the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight as they believe there hasn't yet been enough progress to justify moving the clock away from midnight. 

"Fundamentally, I would say we are at a crossroads. We are at a very dangerous crossroads," said Susan Solomon, science and security board member with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the Lee and Geraldine Martin professor of environmental studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"It's the choices that are just about to come that will determine our path."

Links

• Doomsday clock stops at 100 secs to midnight to shine light on climate emergency
• Doomsday Clock Climate Change
• What is the Doomsday Clock? | University of Chicago
• Newsweek: Doomsday Clock Close as Ever to Midnight in 2021 over COVID, Nukes, Climate Change
• Biden signals radical shift from Trump era with executive orders on climate change
• Doomsday Clock moves ahead to 100 seconds to midnight
• Deep water temperatures hit 'scary' highs in Gulf of St. Lawrence
• Biden ready to rejoin Paris Agreement, put the U.S. back on track with climate goals
• Analysis
• Trump's legacy leaves Arctic with fewer environmental protections and more risk of conflict, say experts

(AU) Australia Could Take Massive Economic Hit From Climate-Fuelled Extreme Weather, Report Warns

SBS - Jarni Blakkarly

Extreme weather events linked to climate change could cost the Australian economy $100 billion every year in the not-too-distant future, according to a new report.

RFS volunteers and NSW Fire and Rescue officers fight a bushfire south of Sydney during the Black Summer bushfires. Source: AAP

Climate Council Key Findings The latest science projects that by 2100 annual deaths from extreme heat worldwide will outstrip all COVID-19 deaths recorded in 2020. In 2019-20, we ushered in a new and dangerous era of megafires that ravaged Australia, Brazil, Siberia and the US West Coast.  We are on track to eliminate all of Australia’s and the world’s tropical coral reefs. Climate-related hazards have affected six times more people in the Asia-Pacific than in the rest of the world combined. Ignoring climate change is deadly. Australians are now paying the price for our own and the world’s failure to reduce emissions quickly enough or deeply enough. We need bold, concerted action across all levels of government, business, industry and community to reduce Australia’s emissions to net zero as soon as possible and prepare for worsening extreme weather events.

Extreme weather events linked to climate change will become an increasingly common part of Australian life in the decades to come, a new report by the Climate Council warns.

The cost of extreme weather in Australia has already almost doubled since the 1970s, and totalled $35 billion over the past decade, according to the report released on Wednesday.

The Climate Council says the impact of fires, floods, droughts, storms and sea level rise linked to climate change could skyrocket into the future, potentially costing the country's economy up to $100 billion every year by 2038.

The report's lead author, Professor Will Steffen, told SBS News that last summer’s Black Summer bushfires showed what happened when the climate reached a “tipping point”.

He said similar events would likely happen with increasing frequency.

“We can’t expect extreme events to increase in a smooth linear fashion, they could jump up at an extremely fast rate at any time, these are the risks we are taking as climate change continues,” Professor Steffen said.

He said studies had shown that Australians were five times more likely to face physical displacement due to climate disasters than their European counterparts.

“But it’s important to note our Pacific Island neighbours face 100 times the displacement risk than Europeans. That displacement risk is only likely to increase for both them and for us,” he said.

Dr Robert Glasser, the United Nations Secretary General’s former Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said Australia should be concerned about the impact of climate change on both the country and the region.

The report warns that devastating fires like those in Black Summer will become all the more common. AAP

“We are also vulnerable because we are right on the doorstep of one of the most populous regions in the world. There are over 400 million people just in maritime Southeast Asia to our north, predominantly in these densely populated low-lying countries that are extremely vulnerable to climate change, sea level rise and storm surge,” he told SBS News.

“So their problems are going to cascade and affect our security as a country in this region,”.  

Federal government urged to act

Dr Glasser said the Australian government needed to take stronger action on reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions, and advocate for other nations to do more.

He said the country also had to drastically step up its ability to respond to major climate disasters.

“Australians are very resilient, but what we now need to do is scale it up, take it to another level. Because the sorts of hazards that strike us now and into the future will be record setting, unprecedented fires, storms and floods. We need to move from adaptation to transformation,” he said.

Professor Steffen said Australia had to half its emissions by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2040.

“That’s what we need to do - the science is very clear on that - and a lot of technologies are now coming into place to make those goals feasible. What’s stopping us is ideology, politics and vested interests,” he said.

Links

• Climate Council Report - Hitting Home: The Compounding Costs of Climate Inaction
• Climate Change Could Cost Australia Billions, Report Says
• Climate Council
• The Deadly Costs of Climate Inaction - Professor Will Steffen
• Hindsight is 2020: the year in climate news
• Heat Map Shows Clear Trend in Global Temperature Change
• Hitting Home: The Compounding Costs of Climate Inaction
• Climate change must get the same scientific response as coronavirus, Australian Nobel winner says
• The world is facing 'catastrophic' global warming, with 2020 among the hottest years on record, UN warns
• Federal government urged to ramp up climate action as it reportedly intends to abandon carryover credits