Poll finds broad, deep public support for climate action across the world

There is broad and deep support in both developing and industrialized countries for governments to take further actions to address climate change, per new polling data from Facebook Data for Good and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication.

Why it matters: Without public support pushing policymakers to take potentially costly steps to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, efforts to rein in climate change will be doomed to fail.

The details: The poll released Tuesday found that countries in Central and South America, such as Brazil, had the highest public support for stronger national and international climate action to be taken.

• This may reflect the region’s vulnerability to extreme weather events such as hurricanes, droughts and floods.
• In the U.S., a solid majority — about 65% — of respondents said their government should be doing “more” or “much more” to address climate change.
• However, 22% said their government should do either “less” or “much less" about global warming. This may reflect the politically polarized nature of the climate issue within the U.S. in particular.

The big picture: The survey also found people strongly support their country’s participation in the Paris Agreement, including 74% of respondents in the U.S.

Between the lines: The international survey of public views in 30 countries and territories was conducted in February.

It included about 46,000 respondents and has a margin of error ranging from plus or minus 3% to plus or minus 0.48%, depending on the country or territory in question.