Climate Emotions

Large scale survey of young people across 10 countries shows majority are worried and feel the future is frightening

01 December 2021

In a survey of 10,000 children and young people (aged 16–25 years) across ten countries around the world (including the UK) found that:

Children and young people in all countries were worried about climate change (59% were very or extremely worried and 84% were at least moderately worried).
More than 50% reported each of the feeling the following emotions in relation to climate change: sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty.
More than 45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning.
Many reported a high number of negative thoughts about climate change (75% said that they think the future is frightening and 83% said that they think people have failed to take care of the planet).
Respondents rated governmental responses to climate change negatively and reported greater feelings of betrayal than of reassurance.

Reference article:

Source: The Lancet

Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey

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Opinion Insight 20th September 2026

Tracker data: Support for local renewables still higher than we think it is

The Climate Barometer Tracker has followed public and MP support for local renewable infrastructure in their area since 2022. Since the beginning, we have pointed to a perception gap between the (high) public support for local renewables projects such as new solar parks and wind farms, and what the public and MPs think support and opposition looks like.

The latest wave of the tracker shows that this gap remains: public support for new local renewable projects remains high. People, and their representatives continue to underestimate this support, and overestimate opposition.

In this wave, we also asked those who have personal experience with local infrastructure projects, how they felt about them. Overall, those who have a newly proposed project in their area, and those who have a fully or partially built one, feel accepting, proud, and relieved. A minority report feeling worry, anger, and upsetness, but for the most part, emotional responses are positive.

Those experiencing the most negative emotions were people living in areas where a renewable energy project had been rejected.

Opinion Insight 13th July 2026

Hot and bothered: Britons blame climate change for June 2026 heatwave

New polling by More in Common shows that 86% of the UK public believe climate change to be either entirely or partially responsible for the June 2026 heatwave. This holds true even for those opposing net zero, with 63% of them seeing climate change as at least in part to blame for the extreme heat.

At the same time, more than 4 in 5 think the UK is unprepared to cope with extremely hot weather (84%) and more than 3 in 4 see the country as ill-equipped to deal with water shortages and drought (77%).

Asked about which groups they think are most negatively affected by extreme heat, the elderly (88%) and children (68%) were seen as worst impacted, closely followed by “ordinary people” (66%).

Describing the most recent heatwave in their own words, responses revealed a public struggling to cope, with words like “hot”, “worried”, “unbearable” and “uncomfortable” being mentioned most often:

Relatedly, the majority expect more political leadership on the issue: 59% of the public say they want the government to help people like them cope with the impacts of extreme heat, compared to 26% who think the government should do the same amount and only 5% who say the government should do less to help people like them cope.

Source: More In Common
Author: More In Common
Date: 13th July 2026