UNDP’s Peoples’ Climate Vote: How Does Climate Anxiety Affect Us?

The UNDP’s Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 has revealed that both younger and older generations are increasingly concerned about climate change and its effects. There is undeniable consensus on the need to strengthen government climate commitments, transition away from fossil fuels, and improve protection from extreme weather.

 by Aria Tzamalikou

Greece, end of August 2024. The Greek summer of dreams is no longer quite so ‘cool’. Prolonged heat waves exceeding usual seasonal temperatures are now the ‘new normal’, causing discomfort even to locals accustomed to hot summer days [1]. At the same time, massive wildfires spreading up to the suburbs of the capital result in evacuations and widespread uncertainty [2]. 

How does this compare with the lived experience of climate change worldwide? The UNDP’s Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 [3], an extensive eight-month survey involving over 73,000 people from 77 countries (covering 87% of the world’s population), sheds light on the public’s experience of climate change and their demands for action. More specifically, the survey results provide a comprehensive picture of the daily lived impacts of climate change, perceptions of existing climate initiatives, priorities for future action, and the need for international cooperation to address the climate crisis.

Compared to the 2021 edition, UNDP’s Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 provides a more comprehensive and methodologically robust perspective. To collect responses, the survey employed random digit dialling (RDD), a method that involves randomly selecting phone numbers. By contrast, the 2021 approach relied on mobile game app advertisements. Most importantly, the 2024 survey delved deeper into people’s perspectives; while in 2021, the question was whether people thought climate change was a ‘global emergency’, now, it is about how people are experiencing climate change and what climate actions and strategies they are calling for. 

Key findings

The findings indicate that people are increasingly concerned about climate change, with more than half thinking about its effects on a daily or weekly basis, and even more stating that it affects their major life decisions due to the rising frequency of extreme weather events. In terms of their country’s response to climate change, nearly half (49%) of respondents declare satisfaction with how it is being addressed, and the overwhelming majority placed more trust in the government than in big business to make a significant positive impact. Regardless of the variations in respondents’ evaluation of their countries’ efforts, there is undeniable consensus on the need to strengthen government climate commitments. Notably, 72% of respondents advocate for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, and 78% demand enhanced protection from extreme weather [4].

Climate anxiety is no longer experienced just by young people

Where do young people come into this picture? While the 2021 survey shed light on the generational divide in public perceptions of the urgency of climate change, this year’s survey did not explore variations across different age groups for most of the questions. However, one key insight did emerge: older generations, previously less alarmed, now experience the same anxiety about the climate crisis as the youth. This insight contrasts with the 2021 survey which found that younger groups were more likely to perceive climate change as ‘urgent’, while older groups were less concerned or remotely conscious of climate change [5]. Hence, there is a growing inter-generational concern about climate change which, in itself, is a strong message for world leaders and policymakers.  

Widespread climate concerns call for a coordinated mitigation and adaptation strategy

The rising climate concern among older generations could be reasonably linked to the fact that, for about half of the world’s population (43%), extreme weather events are getting progressively worse each year. As temperatures set new records year on year and climate extremes outpace earlier scientific scenarios, what was once a distant dystopian projection has now become a lived reality [5, 6, 7].

This concern has also been legitimised by the courts in a recent landmark ruling in April 2024. In the case of KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland, the applicants (a group of senior women) argued before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that they had been affected by a heat wave in their country due to their age, which makes them a vulnerable social group, and because the government had failed to take appropriate action to address climate change [8].

For younger people, the actual harm may not be as great, but, as the Portuguese youth group argued in an equally important case (Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others) before the same court in 2020, their exposure to the effects of climate change will escalate significantly over their lifetimes [9].

Ultimately, the Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 underscores the urgency for coordinated strategies that balance long-term climate change mitigation with immediate protection. Policymakers must now take more concerted action to mitigate climate change and develop adaptation strategies that directly address its adverse effects [10]. 

References:
[1]  Euronews. (2024, June 27). Deadly heatwaves in June? Climate scientists explain why extreme weather is battering Greece. Euronews. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/06/27/deadly-heatwaves-in-june-a-climate-scientist-explains-why-extreme-weather-is-battering-gre  
[2] BBC. (2024, August 14). On the frontline of Greece’s wildfire ‘hell’. BBC. Retrieved August 28, 2024, from https://www.bbc.com/articles/cgrj2qywp7xo 
[3] UNDP. (2024). People’s Climate Vote. UNDP. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://peoplesclimate.vote/
[4] UN News. (2024, June 20). Global survey reveals ‘truly astonishing’ consensus for stronger climate action. UN News.  Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1151271
[5] UNDP. (2021). The G20 Peoples’ Climate Vote 2021. UNDP. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2021-10/UNDP-G20-Peoples-Climate-Vote-2021-V2.pdf 
[6] IPCC. (2023). Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report. IPCC. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_LongerReport.pdf 
[7] Irving, D., Risbey, J. (2023, June 20). Is climate change outpacing our ability to predict extreme heatwaves? The Conversation. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://theconversation.com/is-climate-change-outpacing-our-ability-to-predict-extreme-heatwaves-207925
[8] Climate Change Litigation Databases. KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland (ECtHR). Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/union-of-swiss-senior-women-for-climate-protection-v-swiss-federal-council-and-others/
[9] Climate Change Litigation Databases. Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Other States. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/youth-for-climate-justice-v-austria-et-al/[10] European Environmental Agency. (2024, June 28). Extreme weather: floods, droughts and heatwaves. European Environmental Agency. Retrieved July 27, 2024, from https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/extreme-weather-floods-droughts-and-heatwaves?activeAccordion=dd2e16ef-4d34-48ae-bd38-31258544004d#extreme-weather-what-to-expect

Categories Climate Justice/October 2024

Tell us what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.