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Knowledge of COPs is limited, and there is scepticism about whether the promises made at international meetings are being kept – but voters still want and expect to see British climate leadership on the world stage.
In the UK, there’s a widespread belief that climate change demands international cooperation: many (although not all) parts of society understand climate change as a ‘shared global crisis’. There is an appreciation of the need for collaboration with other nations to tackle climate, and for support of poorer nations.
A majority want the government to play a leadership role in setting ambitious global targets. And there is some evidence that during COP26 – hosted by the UK in Glasgow in 2021 – among public audiences there was a relatively optimistic sense of progress being made.
But COP26 may have been an anomaly, as by the time COP27 came around only a minority (24%) felt that Rishi Sunak was showing leadership: his hesitation around attending in person, so early in his premiership, is likely to have influenced this judgement.
Many people in the UK were sceptical that COP27 would speed up climate action, a trend that has continued in the run-up to COP28.
Although the UK public reports feeling more familiar with international climate conferences (relative to other national populations), knowledge is still likely to be very limited, and scepticism about the purpose, nature and effectiveness of international climate conferences is prevalent.
It makes sense, then, that people feel that claims of UK leadership must be well evidenced in order to be credible. Having explored the meaning of COPs with one British audience segment in 2021, the patriotic ‘Loyal Nationals’, Climate Outreach found that explaining the value and purpose of negotiations is crucial, and the actions of leaders (i.e. if they ‘practice domestically what they preach internationally’) is also a big influence on whether negotiations are given credence by the public.
A report from the New Climate Institute finds that the UK has jumped the highest in its league of countries’ performance on tackling climate change, finishing behind only Denmark and the Netherlands.
While no country has performed well enough to qualify as a ‘very high’ performance, the UK’s ranking has been boosted by the new Labour government’s commitments to reduce emissions and roll out renewable energy across the country.
Despite this, the report says “the country is not on track to reach this target despite a significant reduction in 2023. While the coal exit was set for 2024, oil and gas use also need to be phased out…credible plans now only cover
one-third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the 2030 target“.
Ultimately, whether the UK can remain in its high position depends on whether it can follow through on ambition with effective implementation.
A new study of over 14000 Britons looks at how the British public see the UK’s role on climate action on the global stage. The research finds that the public wants:
In light of the results of the 2024 US election, most Britons want to see the UK either maintain (40%) or strengthen (26%) its commitments to climate change, even if President-elect Trump withdraws the USA from the Paris Agreement again.
A new survey has found that two-thirds of people around the globe have not heard of the term ‘climate justice’, and less than 1-in-5 feel they have a good understanding of what it means. But despite a lack of awareness about the terminology, a clear majority (70%) felt that climate change is driven by capitalism and colonisation. The study by Charles Ogunbode and colleagues builds on previous work addressing engagement with climate justice, by suggesting that people are aware of the key issues underpinning climate justice, even if they don’t consciously link these with the concept. People’s beliefs about climate justice-related issues were also found to positively influence their climate actions and support for policies – suggesting there is much value in building greater awareness.