Breaking the climate silence
A silent majority may unwittingly be holding back progress on climate solutions just by keeping quiet.
While over 80 per cent of people worldwide want to see governments take stronger action on climate change, current research reveals that they mistakenly believe they hold a minority view.
▸This story is part of The 89 Percent Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
These are the key messages behind The 89 Percent Project, a global initiative to highlight the growing number of studies revealing that 80 to 89% of the world’s people want stronger action on climate.
The project aims to not only highlight the true nature of public opinion on climate change, but to also reveal the misconceptions held by many about what the majority of people believe, as revealed in a study published last year by scientific journal, Nature.
By combining data from a representative survey that spanned 125 countries, Nature's research uncovered widespread support for climate solutions, with 89 per cent wanting to see more political action.
In this survey, however, the researchers also sought to understand how accurately respondents perceived the views of others in their communities and countries.
The study concluded: “The world is in a state of pluralistic ignorance, wherein individuals around the globe systematically underestimate the willingness of their fellow citizens to act.”
It is hoped that stronger awareness of the broad global support for climate action will promote a unified response to climate change, the researchers said.
"The data shows the quiet majority of rural Australia is clearly in favour of clean energy projects locally, although many don’t realise they’re part of the quiet majority."
Nature's findings align with the public-opinion survey Peoples’ Climate Vote 2024 conducted by the United Nations Development Programme.
The UNDP survey findings, which represented 87 per cent of the global population, revealed that 80 per cent of respondents wanted to see more climate action in their country. Among the survey's Australian respondents, 74 per cent wanted stronger climate action.
These figures have been echoed by a recent survey commissioned by Farmers for Climate Action, representing its 8400 farmer members in Australia. It found that 70 per cent of rural Australians living in renewable energy zones supported the energy shift, with only 17 per cent opposing it.
This meant that more than two thirds of the respondents supported local clean energy, Farmers for Climate Action CEO Natalie Collard said.
“The data shows the quiet majority of rural Australia is clearly in favour of clean energy projects locally, although many don’t realise they’re part of the quiet majority.”
Birthing new industries
While the rising temperatures that cause climate disruption are believed to be key drivers of public support for renewable energy and industrial decarbonisation initiatives, scientists warn that these alone may not be enough to reach the net-zero targets essential to limit global warming.
Carbon dioxide removal technologies such as Direct Air Capture (DAC) may also need to be part of the solution says Commonwealth scientific research agency, the CSIRO.
Unlike carbon capture and storage (CCS), which seeks to remove carbon before it's emitted into the atmosphere during industrial processes, DAC aims to remove carbon directly from the atmosphere by accelerating natural processes such as storing carbon in trees, rocks, soil and the ocean.
"Australia’s large land mass and vast oceans mean we have far greater physical capacity than other nations to store carbon," CSIRO researchers wrote in a recent article.
"Australia also has access to renewable energy used to power the technologies, and a skilled workforce to develop and run them."
They warn, however, that tackling DAC-style carbon dioxide removal in Australia at the scale required will involve establishing a brand new industry with its own infrastructure, institutions and processes.
"Australia requires a national dialogue and clear vision around how to deliver carbon dioxide removal responsibly and sustainably," the researchers said.
This is a year-long global journalistic effort of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now to explore a pivotal but little-known fact about climate change: The overwhelming majority of the world’s people – between 80 and 89 per cent – want governments to take stronger action, according to recent science. But that fact is not reflected in news coverage, which helps to explain why the 89% don’t know that they are the global majority.
