Mumbai: Ipsos, one of the world's leading market research companies, releases a 33-country study as part of Earth Day, looking at how attitudes to climate change are changing. Urban Indians believe govt (75 per cent), businesses (75 per cent), individuals (77 per cent) need to act now to mitigate the risk of climate change, at the same time two in three urban Indians (68 per cent) believe the negative impact of climate change is too far off to worry in the present. Further, 68 per cent urban Indians see no rationale in changing their own behaviour in tackling climate change believing it will make no difference.  

Should developed countries be doing more?

Two-thirds across 33 countries and 76 per cent Indians think countries like the US, GB, France, Canada and Germany should pay more to solve climate change. At the same time, France and Canada have seen an increase in people feeling they are being asked to sacrifice too much to fight climate change, with both countries now more likely to say this is the case than not.

Attitudes to climate change and misconceptions

People do want to help in limiting the effects of climate change. In all countries people are more likely to say if everyone made small changes in their everyday lives this could have a big impact, with at least 77 per cent in India endorsing this view. However, they lack the knowledge on how to do this. For instance, 66 per cent urban Indians believe it is the usage of products that deplete the ozone layer as the biggest contributing factor for climate change, while in actual rank the number one cause was industry, electricity and heat production; number was deforestation, agriculture and other land use changes; and number three was air pollution caused by cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships etc. Further, they overestimate the importance of recycling and underestimate the impact of acts like not having a car or going vegan.

Incentives for personal action

Urban Indians say the following would encourage them to take personal actions to fight climate change: Seeing the impact of climate driven weather events in other countries around the world (30 per cent), seeing the impact of climate driven weather events in my country (29 per cent), having easy access to information on the steps which I can take every day (28 per cent) and a financial incentive, or tax cut to allow me to make more environmentally friendly purchases of goods and services (27 per cent).

Summarizing on the findings of the survey, Ipsos India CEO Amit Adarkar said, “On Earth Day, we are aware of the grim realities of climate change and how it is leading to sudden, unforeseen weather conditions and natural calamities in India. We need to build more awareness around the actions actually needed to offset the impact of climate change. Right now the immediate actions needed are not the ones on the radar of citizens. Indians also tend to underestimate the power of personal actions.”

https://resources.ipsos.com/GM-GC-2024-04-22EarthDay_W.html

The “33-country average” reflects the average result for all the countries and markets where the survey was conducted. It has not been adjusted to the population size of each country or market and is not intended to suggest a total result. All global numbers cited reflect this 33-country average.