Public support for climate policy is broad, but it is not uniform. In 2024, 89% of people globally wanted more climate action from their governments, while policy support varied by the measure proposed, the country-income group, and perceptions of economic fairness. The figures below bring together global, EU, U.S., and cross-country survey results, with each measurement period kept explicit.
Contents
- Global demand for stronger action
- Policies with the broadest support
- Clean energy and climate targets
- Fairness, adaptation, and climate finance
- Economic divides over policy design
- Political divides in the United States
Global demand for stronger action
The UNDP Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 provides population-weighted estimates across 77 countries. Its results indicate that demand for action is not limited to people who think their governments are failing. The UNDP survey results report that 80% of people globally want their country to strengthen its climate commitments, and 89% want more climate action from their governments.
International cooperation also receives strong support. In the same 2024 results, 86% of people globally want countries to set aside geopolitical differences and work together on climate change. This matters for policies that depend on coordination, including emissions targets, technology deployment, and climate finance.
Climate change is also present in people’s regular attention and choices:
- 56% of people globally say they think about climate change daily or weekly.
- 53% say they are more worried about climate change than they were a year earlier.
- 43% think extreme weather events have become worse than the previous year.
- 63% say climate-change impacts are entering decisions about where to live or work and what to buy.
- 33% say climate change affects their major life decisions a lot.
Support remains high even among respondents who view national performance positively. Among people who say their country is doing well or very well on climate change, 82% still want stronger climate commitments. These are 2024 population-weighted estimates; country-level estimates have margins of error no larger than plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Country and demographic differences are visible within the global picture. In Germany, 75% of women want stronger climate commitments, compared with 58% of men. In Italy, 93% want stronger climate action from their country. The corresponding figure is 66% in both the United States and Russia.
Policies with the broadest support
The global 2024 results show especially strong support for measures connected with nature, education, protection from harm, and international assistance. UNDP’s published findings report the following levels:
| Policy or measure | Global support |
|---|---|
| Protecting and restoring nature | 81% |
| Climate education in schools | 80% |
| More protection for people at risk from extreme weather | 78% |
| Richer countries increasing help to poorer countries facing climate change | 79% |
| Quick transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy | 72% |
The ordering suggests that climate policy support includes both prevention and protection. Nature restoration and school education each reach 80% or more, while 78% support more protection for people exposed to extreme weather. A quick transition away from fossil fuels also receives majority support at 72%, although it is lower than support for the other listed measures.
Policy design affects support for carbon-pricing revenue. The OECD’s international climate-policy survey used high-income-country and middle-income-country groupings; the underlying survey data are from 2021 and the results were published in 2023 in An effective, fair and equitable transition: Net Zero+. In high-income countries, 63% support using carbon-pricing revenue for environmental infrastructure, and 63% support using it to subsidize low-carbon technologies. The figure for reducing income taxes is 57%.
In middle-income countries, support is higher for each of those uses: 75% for environmental infrastructure, 73% for low-carbon technology subsidies, and 69% for reducing income taxes. These are results for the OECD’s groupings, not a single worldwide percentage.
The availability of alternatives also changes views about restrictions. Support for banning fossil-fuel cars was 28% when transport alternatives were available, compared with 20% without alternatives. The eight-point difference indicates why implementation details, such as substitute transport, can be important to public acceptance.
Clean energy and climate targets
EU-wide 2025 survey results show strong support for climate neutrality and clean-energy investment. The European Commission’s Citizen support for climate action reports that 81% of EU citizens support the EU goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050. Support rises to 88% for greater EU investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Economic and industrial arguments are also prominent in the EU findings. In 2025, 84% of EU citizens supported giving more help to European companies competing in global clean-technology markets. Meanwhile, 77% said the cost of climate-change damage outweighs the cost of moving to a climate-neutral economy, and 77% agreed that climate action will foster innovation. Another 75% said reducing fossil-fuel imports will improve EU energy security and its economy.
The same survey measured reported personal action, not just policy preferences. Fifty-nine percent of EU citizens said they had taken an action combating climate change during the previous six months. Among those who reported a recent climate action, 64% said it involved reducing or recycling waste. Lower energy consumption was considered when buying a household appliance by 34%, while 27% regularly used environmentally friendly alternatives to a private car.
U.S. adults also show majority support for long-term climate and energy goals. In a nationally representative survey conducted May 13–19, 2024, Pew Research Center found that 63% support the United States taking steps to become carbon-neutral by 2050. In the same period, 65% said developing renewable energy should be a higher national priority than developing fossil fuels.
Fairness, adaptation, and climate finance
Support for climate policy is closely connected with who bears costs and who receives protection. The European Investment Bank’s August–September 2023 survey covered people aged 15 and above. Its climate accountability findings show that 68% of EU respondents said the transition to a carbon-neutral global economy can succeed only if it also addresses inequalities.
Several measures aimed at fairness received majority support. Seventy-four percent of EU respondents supported eliminating subsidies and tax breaks for aviation and industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Sixty-one percent believed climate-combat measures will improve people’s daily lives, including food quality and health. Sixty percent said their countries should financially compensate developing countries affected by climate change.
Domestic distribution matters too. Fifty-nine percent of EU respondents would accept higher income taxes to help lower-income households cope with green-transition costs. In India, the corresponding figure was 89%. In China, 94% supported eliminating subsidies and tax breaks for aviation and industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels. These country figures come from the EIB’s August–September 2023 survey and should not be treated as EU-wide estimates.
The global UNDP results point in the same direction on assistance and protection: 79% of people globally support richer countries increasing help to poorer countries facing climate change and its impacts, while 78% support more protection for people at risk from extreme weather. Together, these results place adaptation and international support alongside emissions reduction in the public-policy agenda.
Economic divides over policy design
U.S. opinion is more divided when the question asks how climate policies affect the economy. In Pew Research Center’s nationally representative survey of U.S. adults conducted October 21–27, 2024, 34% said climate policies usually help the economy, while an equal 34% said they usually hurt it. The remaining respondents did not choose either of those positions.
The divide is sharper by party identification. Fifty-six percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning U.S. adults said climate policies usually hurt the economy. By contrast, 52% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults said climate policies usually help the economy. These findings describe perceptions of economic effects, not a direct estimate of the policies’ actual economic outcomes.
Other answers show that economic disagreement coexists with concern about responsibility. In the October 2024 survey, 69% of U.S. adults said large businesses and corporations are doing too little to reduce climate-change effects, and 60% said state elected officials are doing too little on climate change.
Political divides in the United States
Perceptions of local impacts vary substantially by party. Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults said climate change currently affects their local community a great deal or some. The figure was 41% among Republicans and Republican-leaning adults, compared with 86% among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.
Expectations about personal disruption are lower than recognition of current community effects. Twenty-three percent of U.S. adults expected to make major everyday-life sacrifices during their lifetime because of climate change. This measure concerns expected major sacrifices, so it is not equivalent to the broader question about whether climate change affects a local community.
Information environments may also shape policy attitudes. Forty-eight percent of U.S. adults said climate news had left them confused about the information available on the issue. Fifty-one percent said climate news had made them suspicious of groups and people pushing for climate action. These results help explain why broad support for some goals can coexist with disagreement about institutions, policy costs, and the groups advocating for action.
Taken together, the surveys show a consistent pattern: majorities often support stronger commitments, clean-energy investment, nature protection, climate education, adaptation, and assistance for poorer countries. The largest tensions emerge around distribution, economic interpretation, available alternatives, and political identity. The figures come from different surveys and periods, so they should be compared as measures of reported opinion in their stated populations and dates, not as one harmonized time series.