New national polling on the eve of the U20 and G20 Summits in Rio de Janeiro has revealed that nearly all Brazilians are concerned about the climate crisis and the vast majority want to see cities given the political and financial support to tackle it. Three quarters of Brazilians say they have been negatively affected by the increase in extreme weather driven by climate breakdown with air pollution and the climate’s impact on the cost of food also a key concern.
The national survey of 800 Brazilians by ClearPath Strategies on behalf of C40 Cities, (conducted October 23 – November 3, 2024) found that:
Nearly universally, Brazilians believe climate change is an urgent problem. About 9 in 10 Brazilians are concerned about climate change (92%) and believe “we are experiencing a climate crisis” (95%). Eight in ten (8 in 10) think about climate and environmental issues all the time or often (82%). Extreme weather and climate change are statistically tied with the cost of living as the top national issue (43% and 40%, respectively).
Brazilians are feeling climate change impacts in their communities and personally, especially extreme heat. Almost 9 in 10 Brazilians (87%) say climate change is impacting their community and them personally (87%), including 6 in 10 saying climate change is having “a great deal” of impact. Extreme heat represents the biggest environmental challenge in Brazil: of those saying they are personally impacted by the effects of climate change, 75% say they’re affected by extreme heat days. Two-thirds of Brazilians impacted by climate change also point to the higher cost of food due to climate change (66%), more polluted air (65%), and health impacts like trouble breathing (64%).
- Young Brazilians are particularly impacted by extreme heat, with 82% of Brazilians under 35 saying they’ve dealt with this, compared to 71% of Brazilians over 50.
Brazilians are looking to their cities to lead on climate action and invest more in climate action. A huge majority of Brazilians expect their city to take climate action (88%). Similar proportions of Brazilians say they want their city to invest more in climate action (85%), and they want the national government to invest funds in city climate action (90%).
While Brazilians want to see more support for cities to take action, cities share the responsibility to take and fund climate action with other governments. All levels of government share responsibility for tackling climate change, according to the Brazilian public. A majority of Brazilians say national governments globally (59%), the Brazilian government (56%), and their mayor (50%) all have a responsibility to act. More than 6 in 10 Brazilians also expect their national, state, and local government to fund climate initiatives in cities.
Brazilians believe city-level climate action is effective in combatting climate change and improving their communities. Impressively, nearly three-quarters of Brazilians believe city climate actions are both combatting climate change (72%) and having an impact on their daily quality of life (74%).
Brazilians strongly support a wide range of climate policies. More than 90% of the public wants Brazil to advance clean water and air policies, reforestation, renewable energy, and infrastructure upgrades to deal with extreme weather. More than 80% of Brazilians support planting more trees and creating more green spaces to cool cities, expand rainwater management programs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create clean air zones, expand public transport, and install more solar panels.
Young Brazilians are more likely to be thinking about climate change regularly and more likely to take personal action to address it. Brazilians under 35 are 14 percentage points more likely to be thinking about climate change often or all the time compared to Brazilians over 50. Young adults are also much more likely to be talking about climate change with friends and family, attending environmental events, working on climate issues in their community, volunteering on the issue, or writing to their elected officials about climate change.
For more information about this polling please contact:
Richard Main, C40 Cities Head of Global Media – rmain@c40.org