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Martin Wahl

A survey of more than 130,000 participants in 125 countries shows that while a majority of people believe global warming is a critical issue, many believe that their peers do not. This misperception causes many who believe that climate action is necessary to be reluctant to talk about it with others because they assume most do not share their concern.

The survey asked whether the participants thought their government was doing enough to counteract global warming and further if they would be willing to give one percent of their income to counter climate change: Eighty-nine percent said they want their governments to do more to fight global warming and more than 67% of those interviewed said they would contribute 1% of their income to fight it but thought that only 43% of others would.

Some other findings:

• People from wealthier countries (notably the U.S., and, perhaps surprisingly, Singapore despite its equatorial location) were less likely to say they would contribute 1% of their income to fight climate change.
• China was among the higher: 97% said their government should do more to fight climate change, and 80% were willing to give their 1%.
• Generally, countries with more at stake from rising seas and temperatures expressed more concern and willingness to pay, including desert petrostates like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf oil states.

The discrepancy between the number of people who said they would give 1% of their income to fight climate change and the number of their peers they believed would also contribute the same amount varied significantly by country, but all underestimated how many of their peers would contribute.

The standouts were surprising, the U.S., Russia and Egypt had close numbers, where the estimated generosity of their peers was just slightly lower (between 3 and 15 points) than their own. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 75% of respondents from Mali, Afghanistan and Greece said they would be willing to contribute 1%, but believed a much smaller percentage of their fellow citizens would be willing to do so, with differences above 41 points.

Why is this?

A 2022 study focused on the United States, found that while between 66% and 80% of us support climate policies, we believe only between 37% and 43% of our fellow citizens do. The media may be part of the cause: a 2007 study found that media (mainstream media in this case) devoted excessive time and space to climate change deniers. Perhaps because it is more exciting to report on controversy than agreement?

The belief that others don’t share a similar level of concern about climate change may also be a testament to the effectiveness of anti-climate change disinformation that has been promulgated by interested parties since the 1980s, significantly since Exxon’s decision to deny climate change after their in-house scientists determined that fossil fuel’s greenhouse gas emissions would negatively affect the climate. This may also be the result of a natural tendency to think better of ourselves than others.

What to do about it

No one likes to be preached to.

Having a discussion about climate change and global warming is difficult: public discussion of the topic is polarized and is often cloaked in stereotyping. One of the more effective approaches to initiating climate conversations is provided by Action for the Climate Emergency, available as a video at their website and also at RepublicEn.org, a website for climate-concerned conservatives, also known collectively as the EcoRight.

The video identifies listening as the most important strategy element when having a conversation about climate change and then following up by reflecting on points brought up during the discussion. These techniques are similar to those often used for interviewing and sales: determining the other’s concerns and opinions and framing the discussion around them. This is not easy to do!

Climate change denial is becoming harder to maintain as the effects of global warming become more obvious -not unlike the waning of tobacco health effects denial a couple of decades ago. With any luck, and with more open discussion across the political spectrum, we can implement policies to correct our course in time.