70% of Brazilians think they will suffer from the climate crisis – 06/17/2023 – Environment

Almost three quarters (70%) of the Brazilian population think that global warming can greatly harm themselves and their families, points out a survey by Ipec released this Friday (16). The data also show that 90% believe that more climate disasters are occurring and that 52% are very concerned about the environment.

The survey “Climate change in the perception of Brazilians 2022” was commissioned by ITS (Instituto Tecnologia e Sociedade) and heard, by telephone, 2,600 people from all over the country, aged 18 or over, from November 25, 2022 to January 26 of 2023. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.

The results were released on the same day that an extratropical cyclone, with winds of up to 200 km/h, hit Rio Grande do Sul, causing at least three deaths, flooding, roadblocks and lack of electricity.

Although it is high, the rate of people who consider that they and their families can be greatly impacted by the climate crisis has dropped in the last year, since it was 75% in 2021.

At the same time, the rate of those who think they will be “more or less” harmed went from 13% that year to 17% in 2022. The percentage of those who believe they will suffer little or no harm varied within the margin of error: it was 8 % to 9% and from 3% to 4%, respectively.

Over 80% of respondents see changes in the occurrence of natural phenomena, such as the frequency of rainfall and environmental disasters, as a consequence of global warming. This number drops, however, when asked about the increases in the electricity bill (66%) and in the price of food (56%) being related to the climate crisis.

Despite being of concern to most Brazilians, issues related to the environment dropped in terms of concern from 2021 to 2022, going from 61% to 52%.

In the same period, the index of how important the interviewees believe it is to preserve nature, in relation to economic gains, also varied downwards.

In 2022, 74% considered it more important to protect the environment, even if this means lower economic growth and fewer jobs, compared to 77% in 2021. Meanwhile, the number of those who prioritize promoting the advancement of the economy and the job market, even harming the environment, it went from 13% to 17%.

The rate of those who say they are very concerned about the environment is higher among women (58%), those with a more left-wing political position (63%) and those over 45 years old (58%).

“The drop in concern in relation to the previous edition came at the same time as the change in government, which may indicate that people are less concerned because they have more confidence than [esse tema] will be a priority [da gestão de Lula]but that will be verified over time”, opines Fabro Steibel, executive director of ITS.

The data also point to the influence that concern for the health of the planet can have on the ballot box. In 2022, half of Brazilians said they had already voted for a politician because of his proposals to defend the environment —a growth of five percentage points compared to 2021.

The survey also shows that 94% of respondents believe that global warming is happening, and 74% say that it is mainly caused by human action. Others
12% think the climate crisis is due to natural changes and 12% to both.

“It is a very high proportion that attributes global warming to human action”, evaluates Rosi Rosendo, director of intelligence and insights at Ipec. “The survey also confirms that a large portion of the population identifies governments as agents that can contribute most to reducing the problems of global warming.”

For two-thirds of those interviewed, governments (36%) and companies and industries (32%) are primarily responsible for solving climate change, while 23% say that citizens can contribute the most and 8%, NGOs focused on climate change. to the environmental theme. Two percent did not know or did not respond.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}