Environmental attitudes are shaped by direct experience, perceived risks, trust in information and expectations of governments and businesses. Recent surveys show broad support for stronger climate action, alongside meaningful differences in knowledge, concern and everyday behavior. The figures below come from different surveys and periods, so they should be read within their stated geography and question wording rather than treated as directly comparable.
Contents
- How people experience and worry about climate change
- Public demand for stronger climate action
- What people expect from climate policy and institutions
- Environmental actions people report taking
- Climate knowledge, information and trust
- Differences across groups and local environmental concerns
How people experience and worry about climate change
The People’s Climate Vote 2024, covering 77 countries, found that climate change was part of everyday attention for many respondents. Globally, 56% said they thought about climate change daily or weekly in 2024. A similar majority, 53%, said they were more worried about climate change than they had been a year earlier.
Perceptions of weather were also significant. In the same 2024 survey, 43% of people globally thought extreme weather events were worse than in the previous year. Concern translated into demand for protection: 78% wanted more protection for people at risk from extreme weather. These results describe reported attitudes, not a measurement of actual changes in weather severity.
Exposure and concern were especially pronounced in some vulnerable settings. In least developed countries, 63% thought about climate change regularly. In small island developing states, 71% were more worried about climate change than a year earlier. Those figures provide context for why climate attitudes can differ across geographies with different exposure to climate-related risks.
European results from the European Commission’s Citizen support for climate action survey were collected in 2025. Across the EU, 85% considered climate change a serious problem for the world, while 38% felt personally exposed to environmental and climate-related risks. About 66% said they considered extreme weather when choosing a holiday destination, suggesting that perceived environmental risk can influence consumer decisions even when people do not describe themselves as personally exposed.
The EU survey also found that 84% attributed climate change primarily to human activity. This is a measure of respondents’ explanations, not an independent assessment of the causes. It sits alongside the finding that 85% viewed climate change as a serious global problem, showing how broad concern and causal understanding appeared together in the 2025 EU results.
Public demand for stronger climate action
The strongest global signal in the 2024 People’s Climate Vote was support for greater national ambition. Globally, 80% wanted their country to strengthen its climate commitments. By comparison, 13% wanted commitments to remain unchanged and 5% wanted them weakened. The published percentages reflect the survey’s question and response categories; they should not be used to calculate an unsupported estimate of the remaining responses.
There was also strong support for international cooperation. Globally, 86% wanted countries to set aside geopolitical differences and work together on climate change. That result points to a public preference for cooperation even when broader international relationships are difficult.
Support for stronger national commitments varied across the countries listed in the survey. Italy recorded the highest figure in this group, at 93%, followed by Brazil at 85%. China was at 73%, Germany at 67%, and both the United States and Russia at 66%.
| Country | Wanted stronger national climate commitments | Survey period |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 93% | 2024 |
| Brazil | 85% | 2024 |
| China | 73% | 2024 |
| Germany | 67% | 2024 |
| United States | 66% | 2024 |
| Russia | 66% | 2024 |
These country figures come from the same global survey, but they still describe public opinion in 2024 rather than a permanent national position. They also measure desire for stronger commitments, not whether respondents agreed on the policies that should deliver them.
What people expect from climate policy and institutions
The European Commission’s 2025 EU survey found broad support for both long-term goals and practical investment. In the EU, 81% supported climate neutrality by 2050. A further 77% said the costs of climate-change damage outweigh the costs of the transition. Support for greater EU investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency reached 88%, while 84% supported more help for European clean-technology companies.
Respondents also assigned responsibility across institutions. Among EU respondents, 66% saw national governments as best placed to tackle climate change. The corresponding figures were 59% for the EU itself and 58% for business and industry. These answers indicate overlapping expectations: national governments were the most frequently selected institution in this set, but majorities also identified the EU and businesses as important actors.
Many respondents connected climate policy with broader public benefits. In the EU, 85% said climate action should be a priority for improving public health. Another 83% said preparing for climate impacts would improve citizens’ lives, and 77% said climate action would foster innovation. These are expectations about likely benefits, not measured outcomes from a particular policy program.
Taken together, the 2025 EU figures show support for climate action framed in several ways: emissions goals, energy investment, industrial policy, health, resilience and innovation. The survey does not establish that all respondents supported every specific measure or that the different percentages refer to identical groups of people.
Environmental actions people report taking
Reported behavior is more varied than general support for climate action. In the EU, 59% said they had taken an action against climate change in the previous six months in the 2025 European Commission survey. The most common specific behavior listed was reducing and recycling waste, reported by 64%. Cutting down on disposable items was reported by 49%.
Other actions were less common. In the EU, 34% said they considered lower energy use when buying an appliance, and about 26% regularly used an environmentally friendly alternative to a private car. These measures concern different decisions and frequencies, so the percentages are not a ranking of total environmental impact.
The 2023 Special Eurobarometer 538: Climate change used different fieldwork and question wording. In that EU survey, 93% reported at least one specific climate action. Seventy percent reported reducing and separating waste for recycling, 53% reported cutting down on disposable items, 28% reported buying and eating more organic food, and 31% reported buying and eating less meat.
The 2023 and 2025 results should not be read as a simple trend. The surveys used different periods and measures: one asks about at least one specific action, while the other includes an action in the previous six months and reports separate behaviors. The difference illustrates why environmental-attitude statistics need their survey context attached.
Climate knowledge, information and trust
The DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker: Net Zero and climate change, Winter 2024, UK covers UK adults aged 16 and over. In Winter 2024, 91% were aware of Net Zero, but 53% said they knew a lot or a fair amount about it. Awareness was therefore broader than self-reported substantial knowledge.
Climate concern was also widespread. In the UK, 80% were very or fairly concerned about climate change, including 37% who were very concerned. Information sources varied: television news was a source for 60%, social media for 40%, online searching for climate-action information for 31%, and government websites for 29%.
The EU’s 2025 results highlight difficulties with information quality. Fifty-two percent said traditional media fail to provide clear climate information. Forty-nine percent said it is difficult to distinguish reliable climate information from disinformation on social media. These findings measure respondents’ perceptions of clarity and reliability; they do not classify individual media outlets or prove that a particular claim is misinformation.
Differences across groups and local environmental concerns
Within the UK, education was associated with differences in both Net Zero knowledge and concern in the Winter 2024 DESNZ survey. Net Zero knowledge was 68% among degree holders and 34% among people with no qualifications. Very high concern was reported by 48% of degree holders, compared with 30% of people with no qualifications.
Age differences appeared in the same survey. Among people aged 65 and over, 43% were very concerned about climate change. The corresponding figures among age groups aged 16–44 ranged from 32% to 35%. These results describe differences between the published groups; they do not establish that age or education alone causes the difference.
U.S. environmental attitudes also included concerns about local and national protection. According to Pew Research Center’s 3. Majorities of Americans say too little is being done on key areas of environmental protection, 63% of U.S. adults in 2023 said the federal government was doing too little to protect lakes, rivers and streams. The figures were 58% for air quality and 56% for climate change.
In the same 2023 Pew survey, 53% of U.S. adults said stricter environmental laws were worth the cost. There was a large partisan difference: 80% of Democrats said stricter laws were worth the cost, compared with 25% of Republicans. The survey also found that 59% viewed garbage and landfills as a big or moderate local problem.
Local perceptions differed by place for air pollution. Sixty-seven percent of urban residents called air pollution a big or moderate local problem, compared with 39% of rural residents. This contrast is a reminder that environmental attitudes are not only about global climate change. They also reflect the environmental conditions people notice around them, the institutions they hold responsible and the costs they associate with proposed responses.