After polling more than 40,000 people across 50 countries, the researchers found that 31% believe climate change is a top concern, compared with 52% who cited war and conflict, which was the most pressing issue recorded.
When looking at findings from only 32 countries surveyed in both 2022 and 2025, the climate concern gap has widened from 12 points – when economic hardship was top position – to 16 points this year.
Europe’s results are particularly striking, with public concern over climate change having dropped by 6.5-10 percentage points across France, Denmark, Spain, the UK and Germany over the last three years.
The researchers said that public attention is “clearly shifting”, despite Europe pushing ahead with climate legislation, “creating a disconnect between policy momentum and public concern”. At the same time, the survey found that 72% of global consumers across 29 markets prefer products that do not harm plants or animals.
“We must work with the concrete realities of people’s lives if we are to address climate change effectively,” said FSC director general Subhra Bhattacharjee. “The survey shows a clear contradiction: people report lower worry about climate change, and yet they reward brands that can prove sustainability.
“This disconnect between abstract concepts and practical choices points to a clear need: make climate action tangible in daily life.”
South Korea registered the highest levels of climate change concern out of the 50 countries surveyed, with Japan and Thailand on the rise, while Australia and China recorded the sharpest decline.
The UK government published findings from its DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker of adults aged 16 and over on the same day, which suggests that concern for climate change has fallen from 85% in 2021 to 79% this year.
This comes after research from Climate Outreach last month revealed that 74% of adults across England, Scotland, and Wales believe climate policies will cost them money, rather than help them save it.
Speaking at ISEP and the Broadway Initiative’s annual reception in London last week, energy secretary Ed Miliband stressed that the green transition must be “fair for families today, and fair for families in the future”.
“We are in the better-lives-today business, not just the disaster-avoidance-tomorrow business,” he continued. "Some of our opponents want to cast us back, and say it's too expensive to act – we have to take on this story of despair.
"People respond to hope and a vision of a better future, and this is the economic opportunity of the 21st century."
Image credit: Shutterstock
Chris Seekings is the Deputy Editor of ISEP’s Transform magazine, which is published biomonthly for ISEP members. Chris’s role involves writing sustainability-related news, features and interviews, as well as helping to plan and manage the magazine’s other day-to-day activities.
