Abstract:
Ipsos Global Trends, our study of 33,000 people every
three years, recently found climate emergency to be
the strongest common value that unites us worldwide.
Eighty percent globally think we are heading for
environmental disaster unless we change our habits
quickly. Months later, the world stands united towards a
different, more immediate crisis: COVID-19.
In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 has brought the global
economy to its knees and the lives we once knew as
‘normal’ have been turned on their head. Climate change
discussions and decision-making have been put on hold
while governments, industry and people everywhere
come together to combat a global pandemic.
Recent Ipsos Earth Day data found that concern over
climate change is still high globally, despite attention
being focused on the more urgent crisis at hand.
Seventy one percent of the world feels climate change is
as significant a threat as COVID-19 in the long term.1
In the midst of this upheaval, we ask what, if anything, can
COVID-19 teach us about the climate crisis?
1. The trajectory of climate crisis concern in the months
preceding COVID-19
2. Analogous learnings between both crises from experts
3. The influence of the pandemic on public attitudes and
behaviours around climate change
4. Support for a greener economic transition following
the pandemic
5. Implications and recommendations for key industry
players moving forward
