Key takeaways
- Survey conducted in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain
- Europeans think countries will be more effective fighting climate change if they work together, but don’t think rich countries should take most of the responsibility
- Those in the EU nations surveyed think the EU rather than national governments should make the decisions on climate change
- Large majority (69-80%) believe in man-made climate change
- Most Europeans are worried about climate change, with the recent heatwaves having a notable impact
- Most still think there is time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, but that doing so would require a drastic change in approach
Next week sees the start of COP31, with national leaders from across the world making their way to Turkey for the annual conference seeking to foster international cooperation on the fight against climate change.
Ahead of the event, a new YouGov survey conducted in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain examines the attitudes of Europeans towards climate change.
Europeans on international cooperation on climate change
Certainly it is the case that the vast majority of Europeans think countries will be more effective in the fight against climate change if they work together (79-87%), although the large majority also reject the notion that wealthy countries should shoulder most of the burden (65-76%).
People in the largest EU member countries say that climate change decision-making should be decided at the EU level rather than by national governments
Among the five EU member countries surveyed, there is a preference for climate change decisions to be made at the EU level, rather than the national level. This includes 50-54% in France, Italy and Germany, as well as 61% in Denmark and 64% in Spain.
Between 22-36% would prefer for climate change decisions to be made by national governments rather than the EU.
The large majority of Europeans in the countries surveyed believe in man-made climate change
Belief that climate change is being caused by humanity’s actions is the dominant belief in each country surveyed, ranging from 69-73% in Germany, Britain, Denmark and Spain, 76% in Italy and 80% in France. These figures have remained broadly consistent since this tracker began in April 2022.
Very few in any country think that climate change isn’t happening at all (1-4%), with more instead saying that the climate is changing but that it is not a result of human actions (14-20%).
How worried are Europeans about climate change?
The large majority (65-83%) in each country surveyed say they are worried about climate change; this includes 23-42% who are “very worried”.
With the continent experiencing a series of major heatwaves this summer, our tracker recorded a notable uptick in concern about climate change.
France in particular has seen concern increase and stay elevated. While in April 74% of French people were worried about climate change, as of mid-August that figure had risen to 83%, and has stayed at that rate in our latest (October) wave. Likewise, the number of French people who were “very worried” about climate change rose from 28% in April to 42% in August, and remains at that level. These represent the highest figures recorded for France since we started tracking in 2021, noticeably so in the case of the ‘very worried’ numbers.
While other countries saw increases, they have not necessarily been to the highest levels experienced on our tracker, or they have since receded from the summer, or both. In Germany, for instance, the number of people who were very concerned about climate change rose from 27% in April to 40% in August – but has since fallen again to 31%, a figure comparable to earlier waves of the tracker.
And in Denmark attitudes don’t appear to have shifted at all, with the total number concerned remaining between 66-69% and the “very worried” figure between 20-23%.
Our European tracker does also include a quarterly ‘top issues’ tracker – unfortunately this year’s heatwaves fell in between waves, so we can’t see how figures for “pollution, the environment and climate change” were impacted at the time of the heatwave. What we can see, however, is that by the time of the post-heatwaves survey wave in mid-late September the number of people listing climate change as a top issue was at approximately the same levels it had been in June in Britain, Denmark, Germany and Spain, while in France and Italy it was slightly higher (5-6pts).
Looking to the UK’s separate most important issues tracker – which runs weekly, albeit using a different collection of categories – shows that concern about the environment rose from 16% prior to the June heatwave to a peak of 25% in mid-August. By mid-September, it had receded to 19%, with all polls since putting the issue in the 17-19% range.
The UK example suggests it is very likely that a similar trend took place in other European countries during the heatwaves – and indeed evidence from other polls suggest the same.
Europeans say it’s not too late to stop the worst impact of climate change – but we need a dramatically different approach
The most common view in each country is that it is not too late to avert the worst impacts of climate change, but that it would require a drastic change in approach in order to do so. This view is held by 45-63% in each country.
A minority already believe time has run out to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, ranging from 11-24% across the six countries. YouGov has been polling this question since April 2022, and there is not yet an obvious upwards trend in number of people holding this view.
On the other side of the scale, there are also those who think current steps will be enough to prevent serious impacts of climate change without the need for more dramatic action. This accounts for 9-20% of the public in each of the countries surveyed.
What are Europeans willing to do and support to tackle climate change?
Generally speaking, support is lowest for measures that most directly impact people’s everyday lives, with increasing fuel duty, limiting meat and dairy products that people can buy, 50% tax on all air fares, and banning new petrol and diesel cars net opposed in every country (with the only exception that Italians are divided on meat and dairy).
By contrast, measures like planting more trees in green spaces, investing in domestic production, subsidies for making homes more energy efficient, tougher packaging regulation, banning single-use plastics, and taxing big emitters all proving popular.
Again, when asked what Europeans are personally willing to do in the fight against climate change, we see higher willingness for cheap and easy actions like creating green space at home, only eating seasonal fruit and vegetables, never buying single-use plastic products and switching to a renewable energy provider.
By contrast, bigger changes face much more resistance, with Europeans particularly unwilling to totally cut meat and dairy products from their diet (even if they are more open to reducing their intake). Likewise, there are many who would not be willing to exclusively shop second hand, or to pay more for flights.
Methodology
- Sample size: Online survey of 2,062 Adults in GB / 1,066 in France / 2,408 in Germany / 1,013 Adults in Denmark / 1,170 Adults in Spain / 1,172 Adults in Italy
- Fieldwork: 9-22 October 2026
- Commissioned by: YouGov
Please note that the reparations question was asked slightly differently in this year’s survey compared to our previous survey in 2025, so a direct comparison between the two may not be appropriate.
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