28 October 2021

Project Syndicate's Hoyer: Restoring Citizens' Trust on Climate Cha

Survey of public opinion in EU, UK, United States, and China finds that most people consider climate change to be the defining issue of this century and expect their governments to do more to address it. Policymakers must respond with massive investments in the green economy before fatalism sets in.

The world must change how it tackles the climate crisis. The current approach is too slow and risks falling short of our own targets for limiting global warming and mitigating its impact. And, no longer satisfied with political pronouncements, people are demanding action. This popular unease is borne out by the European Investment Bank’s annual climate survey. Some 75% of European Union citizens, 69% of Britons, and 59% of Americans say they are more concerned about the climate emergency than their governments are. And roughly half of those surveyed say the difficulty in solving the climate crisis is primarily due to government inactivity.

For those of us steering public organizations, these findings should be seen as a dire warning. If citizens stop trusting their governments to do something about climate change, many might conclude that there is no hope and give up. Governments then would face an even tougher task gaining public support for the policies and programs that are vital to our future.

We cannot allow that to happen. The remedy for a lack of public confidence is to invest massively in concrete climate projects and innovations, starting immediately. Climate action represents a tremendous business opportunity, and policymakers must be savvy enough to embrace it. The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow will serve as a major test of the credibility of governments’ commitment to effective action. The whole world will be watching. For its part, the EU is leading the way with major commitments, including a pledge to reduce its greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 55%, relative to 1990 levels, by 2030. And as the EU’s climate bank, the EIB is at the forefront of this effort, with commitments to support €1 trillion ($1.16 trillion) of investment in climate action and environmental sustainability by 2030. We are in the critical decade for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. In all the countries surveyed, large majorities (93% in China, 81% in the EU, 74% in the United Kingdom, and 59% in the United States) consider climate change the biggest challenge of this century. Yet there is a lack of public faith in our chances of meeting current goals. In the EU, 58% of citizens believe their country will fail to cut carbon emissions drastically by 2050, compared to 55% in the UK and 49% in the US.

Project Syndicate

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