WIN International, the world’s leading association in market research and polling has published the Annual WIN World Survey (WWS – 2020) exploring the views and beliefs of 29,252 individuals among citizens from 34 countries across the globe. The survey analyzes views and opinions related to the perception of climate change in 2020 and the importance of sustainable development worldwide.
Climate change has already been a reality for several years, and one of its main consequences is global warming, which is perceived as a threat to humanity by 85% of the global population surveyed (in APAC and Americas the share is even higher, with 87% of the population believing global warming is a threat).
Vietnam (97%), South Korea (94%), Chile (93%), Indonesia (92%), India, Ecuador, and China (91%) are at the top of the world ranking when it comes to the perceived threat of global warming.
Interestingly, around 8 out of 10 people are convinced that their personal everyday actions could help to improve the environment, a belief that seems more common among females (83%) than males (79%). On a global level, people in the American region are even more strongly convinced about that (86%), followed by Europe (80%). In addition, 54% of the global population does not believe that it is too late to stop climate change, and the share has increased by 6% compared to 2019 (48%), meaning that more people are convinced there is still time to act against climate change. Among the most optimistic world regions, we find once again America (61%) and Europe (58%), where the vast majority of people believe that improvements are still possible for the benefit of our environment. People in APAC and MENA region seem to be less optimistic (47% each).
Lately, sustainability has become a widely discussed topic since it involves many different sectors and activities and it is meant to improve the environment and the society we’re living in. When it comes to climate change, many discuss whether sustainable actions should be taken by people or by governments and companies instead: 67% of the world’s population believes the real efforts in terms of sustainability need to be undertaken by companies and by governments rather than individuals only, with India (86%), South Korea (86%) and France (83%) being the countries where people agree the most to this view.
In line with the belief that personal actions can have an impact and that it is not too late to stop climate change, 66% of the global population affirms that they would like to live more sustainably, even if they find that often they don’t make the necessary changes in their own behaviors: people who are keener in admitting that are mostly in the APAC region and America, indeed Paraguay (90%), South Korea (81%), the Philippines (77%), India (77%) and Chile (76%) are at the top of the ranking.
Vilma Scarpino, President of WIN International Association, said
“The WIN Worldwide Survey still shows that the majority of the world population considers climate change as a serious threat to humankind, and 54% think that is not too late to curtail climate change. Citizens around the world are aware of their responsibility when it comes to applying sustainable behaviors in their everyday life but, at the same time, they expect businesses and governments to also do their part. Considering that many want to live more sustainably, governments and companies’ efforts towards sustainability could also be a driver to individuals’ behavioral change.”
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