Do you remember when the Yellow Vests marched through the streets of Paris? Or when thousands of angry citizens with signs, straw bales and honking car horns drove the tractors towards the EU’s capital, Brussels? All in protest against green climate policy. It may seem that the world’s population is deeply divided when it comes to the concern about climate change and the will to do something about it. But, we are actually not as divided as we think. Almost the entire population of the earth is actually concerned about climate change and believes that much more must be done to slow down global warming. A large study, in which almost 130,000 people across 125 countries participated, shows that approximately 90 percent of the world’s population wants their own governments to do more to combat global warming. In addition, around 70 per cent of the world’s population will give one per cent of their household’s private income per month to the fight against global warming. But even though there is enormous support for climate action, we consistently underestimate the willingness of others to support the climate. The same study also shows that only 43 percent of the world’s population believe that others will give one percent of their income each month. There is thus a difference in how we view our own and how we view the attitude of others towards efforts against climate change. It is not just you and me who are unaware of the large and wide support for the climate worldwide. The politicians don’t know that either. It can stand in the way of ambitious climate policy. – If people don’t know and if the politicians underestimate the support, it means that both on a political and individual level we don’t see as much action as we could, explains Clara Vandeweerdt. She is an assistant professor and researcher in public attitudes about climate at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen and has looked at the figures in the survey. Deep concern around the world The world is heading for a catastrophic temperature rise of almost three degrees. The world’s oceans are under massive pressure and biodiversity is falling worldwide – and people all over the world are worried. Another study with more than 59,000 people from 63 countries shows that 86 percent believe in climate change. Even Israel, which is the country with the lowest approval rating, had a score of 73 percent. In addition, the study shows that almost three out of four support climate policies, such as CO2 taxes on coal, oil and gas, a marked expansion of public transport, more green energy such as solar and wind power, taxes on air travel and taxes on CO2-heavy foods such as for example meat and dairy products. If we turn our gaze across the Atlantic to the United States, it turns out that up to 83 percent of Americans believe that climate change is a serious threat to the planet. Our erroneous perception of climate support has also been documented in other studies. For example, about 90 percent of Americans underestimate other Americans’ support for climate policy. In addition, it is not a minor misjudgment: They are completely wrong in their assessment of how many other Americans support climate action. The vast majority are therefore deeply concerned about climate change and do not know that their neighbours, colleagues and classmates will also do something about it. Hope and action for you and me When we experience that others are indifferent to climate change, we get the wrong impression that it is normal – something that affects our behaviour. – Norms are super important and super influential. This means that if people underestimate how many others are concerned or are doing things to stop climate change, then research shows that it also affects the individual’s commitment to do something themselves, explains Clara Vandeweerdt. The same is said by Rune Baastrup, who is a sociologist and director of the organization Democracy X, which supports citizens, managers, experts and other social actors in solving major challenges such as. the climate crisis. – If you don’t feel that others care, and you yourself are unable to find solutions that can respond to your feelings or values, it means that people become more apathetic and start to think that there is no point in doing anything, he explains. We can therefore risk ceasing to get involved, if we feel that others do not worry as much as we ourselves do. According to Rune Baastrup, emotions such as hope and anger increase motivation to act, while feelings of isolation and anxiety decrease motivation. If we know that many others think like ourselves, it increases people’s hope, he explains. – We already knew this. It can help to discover that others are also concerned with this. There are others who think and feel the same as me. I am not alone in my concern. I am not alone in looking for alternatives, because others also want to do something. It is a good way to promote the motivation to act on the green transition. – If you know that, for example, 80 per cent of Danes care about this, then it is easier to ask a colleague or neighbor if they would like to take part in climate measures, explains Baastrup. Put on the action hat Politicians around the world do not know that the majority of the world’s population wants more climate action, says Clare Vandeweerdt. – When we test the politicians’ knowledge of what the population thinks, we see that they are completely wrong most of the time. They are very bad at estimating where the population stands, she explains. For example, Vandeweerdt points to a survey, where 866 politicians from four different countries were asked to guess the percentage of support for various political proposals – and the survey’s conclusion is clear: The politicians have no idea what the population thinks and they not only misunderstand the general population’s attitude, but also their own attitude. This applies in the area of climate, according to Vandeweerdt. Another study shows, for example, that members of Congress in the United States underestimate Americans’ support for curbing CO2 emissions. The politicians therefore also do not know where the support for climate action is to be found. According to Vandeweerdt, popular support means something for the political decisions that are made. – We can see that there is a correlation (context editor’s note) between support and adoption of policy. I have also shown this myself in a research article about the USA, where we could see that if there was support for climate policy in a constituency, the politicians were significantly more inclined to vote yes to bills on climate. Vandeweerdt emphasizes that it is always difficult to change people’s image of the world, and points to the term “confirmation bias” as an explanation. Confirmation bias is something that all people have, and it means, in short, that we often interpret information so that it fits our existing interpretation or perception. – When people learn new hard facts about a political topic, we often see that they try to fit the facts into an existing opinion. The same probably applies to politicians. So I can imagine that the effect is a little less than we would like. That does not mean that there is no effect, just that there are some assumptions that will reduce the effect, she explains and adds: – But the logical consequence is that we will see more progressive climate policy.
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Almost the entire world’s population supports the climate fight. We just don’t know.
