Across the world, people are stepping up personal efforts to avert climate change, according to the latest findings from Epson’s second Climate Reality Barometer.
Despite a year of unprecedented climate impacts, the survey found that people are increasingly optimistic that climate disaster can be averted in their lifetime. Prior to COP26 in November 2021, 46% of global respondents were optimistic that climate catastrophe could be averted within a lifetime. As the world prepares for COP27 this year, optimism has risen to over 48%.
While fixing the economy (22%) and rising prices (21%) top the list of respondents’ priorities, climate change ranks a very close third (20%). The data also shows that there are significant variations in confidence levels, driven by factors such as economics and age. The oldest and youngest age ranges are most concerned about climate change. Those 55 and over are the only group to cite climate change as its most pressing global issue (22.2%), while the 16 to 24 group is the only one to rank it second (19.3%) – all other age ranges rank it third.
