Earth Day 2023 – Is concern and focus slipping on climate change?

Key findings

• When it comes to who should act, citizens (53%), government (49%), and businesses (49%) continue to be seen in roughly equal measure as having the responsibility to act, but each by a decreasing proportion of the Swiss public.
• There is no consensus in the Swiss opinion on whether now is the right time to invest in climate change or not (41% say now is the right time and 29% say it is the wrong time), although a majority disagree that the negative impact of climate change is too far in the future to worry about (52% vs 20%).
• Furthermore, the view that the economic cost of climate change itself will be greater than the cost of measures to reduce it also prevails over the opposing view (40% vs 31%).
• Looking at actions to try and tackle climate change, a quarter (25%) of citizens in Switzerland say they would be willing to pay more taxes to help prevent it. Slightly more say they would be most encouraged to take more action to fight climate change through financial incentives/tax cuts for environmentally friendly purchases or by having easy access to information to fight it.

What is the plan?

Outside of India and Southeast Asia, awareness of government plans to tackle climate change remains low in 2023, at a Swiss average of one-third (32%).In Switzerland, as across the 29 countries surveyed, citizens continue to perceive action as a shared responsibility between citizens (53%), government (49%), businesses (49%).  However, there is less belief in the need to act on climate change to prevent failing future generations, customers, employees, and people generally compared to 2022.

In general, more Swiss citizens say that the economic cost of climate change itself will be greater than the cost of measures to reduce it. However, this is not a consensus view, with two-fifths (40%) of the Swiss saying this, compared to a third (31%) who say the cost of mitigating climate change would be greater. With the exception of Japan (23% and 30% respectively), there is stronger belief in every country surveyed that the economic cost of climate change itself will be greater than the cost of measures to reduce it.

Who is leading the pack?

Citizens in most countries surveyed do not see their country as being a leader in tackling climate change. Just over a third (32%) on average, in Switzerland, hold this view, probably because some decisions are still to be made and a new ballot on climate protection objectives, innovation and strengthening energy security will take place in June 2023. There is consensus that countries should do more to combat climate change (a Swiss average of 52% agree vs 66% globally), and that the greater burden should fall on countries that have historically contributed more to climate change (60%) and on countries that are currently more economically developed (63%). However, in Switzerland, there is agreement (averaging at 68% vs 75% globally) that we cannot fully tackle climate change unless all countries work together.

What are we going to do?

Swiss citizens generally do not dismiss the importance of individual action, with six in ten (61%) agreeing that, if everyone made small changes in their everyday lives, it would have a big impact on tackling climate change. However, opinions are more divided on whether climate change is beyond our control. While almost half (47%) disagree with this statement and just a quarter (24%) agree, views vary widely between countries. Disagreement is highest in South Africa (60%), Great Britain (57%) and Poland (57%), and lowest in India (14%) and Japan (32%).

There is similar division over whether now is the right time or not to be investing in climate change given the tough economic conditions (41% say it is the right time and 29% say it is the wrong time), but the majority (52%) disagree that the negative impacts of climate change were too far off to be worried about.

In Switzerland, a quarter (25%) agree that they would pay more of their income in taxes to help prevent climate change, but more (50%) disagree. 

" It is concerning that the expectation of individuals, government, and business to act to tackle climate change has fallen this year, in Switzerland and globally. Attention perhaps being drawn to seemingly more urgent issues impacting an individual’s ability to provide and look after their families on a day-to-day basis. Issues such as inflation, energy and food security and conflict undoubtedly play a role in the polarised opinions as to whether now is the right time to act on climate change. Also as a reminder, in Switzerland, a CO2 law was rejected in 2023 by 51.6% of voters and a new ballot on climate projection objectives, innovation and strengthening energy security will take place in June 2023. 

However, there is still a sense of urgency as more people believe that the negative impacts of climate change are imminent. And that the cost of tackling climate change will be less than the cost of its impact.   There is also optimism that climate change is not beyond our control and a strong belief that if we all could make small changes in our everyday lives, it could have a significant role in tackling climate change. 

Also, Swiss citizens acknowledge that if we are really going to tackle climate change it will require all countries to come together and that the funding for this activity should be borne by those countries who have contributed most to climate change to this point. "

Pippa Bailey
Head of Ipsos Climate Change & Sustainability Practice

About this study

These are the results of a 29-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Ipsos Global Advisor online platform, and in India, on its IndiaBus platform. Ipsos interviewed an international sample of 21,231 online adults aged 18 years and older in India, 18-74 in, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey and the United States, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other markets between 20th January and 3rd February 2023 in 28 countries and 17th February and 3rd March 2023 in Switzerland.