Polling from the government shows that public concern about climate change increased between Spring and Summer 2025, against the downward trend of recent years:

The measure of public concern is a gauge of how willing people are to act on climate change, so the falling level in recent years has been worrying.

The data are from a regular survey called the DESNZ Public Attitudes Tracker that was launched in 2021 - around the same time that the organised backlash against net zero started emerging in the UK.

It shows that that the last peak in concern followed the 40C heatwaves of Summer 2022. According to the Met Office, 98% of the UK population had to take action that summer to protect themselves and their families from extreme heat, which made climate change personal for many of us.

The recent uptick does not have such an obvious single cause but follows a year of warnings from experts and news of extreme weather events around the world, including the UK’s hottest summer on record. Last week the chair of the international climate science body, the IPCC, said climate action had been insufficient and warned global leaders that the effects of climate change are getting more acute and more evident.

Despite the rise of anti-climate viewpoints, it seems that the majority of Brits understand the IPCC’s message loud and clear. A poll last month from More in Common found that:

· Britons rank climate change as the top threat facing humanity (higher than the threats of nuclear war, cyberattacks or uncontrollable AI)
· 72% think the UK Government should do the same or more to tackle climate change
· 75% believe the planet and humanity are at a high level of risk if we do not act on climate change more quickly
· 76% support action to halt and reverse global deforestation (notably including 73% of 2024 Reform voters)

It’s easy to be dismayed by the current backlash against climate action. Reality will catch up with it at some point. In the meantime, we should keep in mind that opponents of climate action are still a small minority, while the large majority of people support government action on climate change. Let’s keep that number growing!

Met Office report on 2022 heatwave

Public concern about climate change is rising again

Polling from the government shows that public concern about climate change increased between Spring and Summer 2025, against the downward trend of recent years: