85% of countries want a fast transition to clean energy – but how do we make it an equitable one too?

Seven out of ten people around the world want their country to make the switch to clean energy as quickly as possible in a bid to tackle the climate crisis.

That’s according to the United Nations' (UN) second Peoples’ Climate Vote, which surveyed over 73,000 people across 77 countries and found that 85% of those countries support a swift transition away from fossil fuels, including a majority of the world’s 10 biggest oil, gas and coal producing countries.

The survey results "reveal a level of consensus that is truly astonishing," said Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme. He urged leaders and policymakers to take action, “especially as countries develop their next round of climate action pledges”.

But it’s not just about achieving a fast-moving transition. It needs to be an equitable one too. “Well-intentioned policies and climate-positive actions … could exacerbate existing economic inequities and leave society more fragmented and polarized, ultimately slowing both environmental and socioeconomic progress,” warns a new report from the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group.

While a majority (53%) of respondents to the People's Climate Vote said they were more worried about the climate crisis than they were last year, 6 in 10 people in the world's least-developed countries (LDCs) expressed increased concern, compared with half of people in G20 countries.

The world’s 10 most increasingly worried countries are:

1. Fiji (80%)

2. Afghanistan (78%)

3. Mexico (77%)

4. Türkiye (77%)

5. Paraguay (76%)

6. Republic of Korea (76%)

7. Brazil (76%)

8. Ecuador (76%)

9. Colombia (75%)

10. Guatemala (74%).

With LDCs frequently bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, it’s not surprising a majority of people (89%) in those countries want to see stronger commitments to tackling the climate crisis, with the Sub-Saharan African countries of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Benin registering the highest level of support for this, at 97%.

A quarter of people said their country was failing to address climate challenges, with Haiti registering the most disappointment (73% of Haitians think their country is doing very or somewhat badly).

While transitioning to clean energy is a key part of addressing the climate crisis, the reality is that over 90% of investment in the sector is concentrated in advanced economies and China.

Of the $1.8 trillion invested into clean energy infrastructure in 2023, emerging and developing economies received less than 15%, “despite accounting for 65% of the world’s population and generating about a third of global gross domestic product (GDP)”, points out the World Economic Forum’s report, Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2024.

The Forum's report says clean energy investment in developing countries must increase “more than sixfold, from $270 billion currently to $1.6 trillion by the early 2030s”.

According to the UN’s climate poll, 8 in 10 people would agree, with 79% saying they want “rich countries to give more support to poorer countries”.

But the transition itself can create inequalities. Decommissioning coal mines, for instance, impacts local employment, while the adoption of electric vehicles is largely the preserve of higher-income households. As the Forum's Accelerating an Equitable Transition: A Data-Driven Approach points out, "climate change mitigation efforts continue to disproportionately benefit wealthier segments of society".

Different countries face different risks and therefore require a nuanced approach, it says. The report analyzes individual country data to establish where the equity gaps are, in order to “generate informed strategies”.

What these Forum reports make clear is that to avoid exacerbating existing inequalities, climate policies need to be inclusive and considerate of socio-economic impacts, ensuring that no country or community is left behind in the fight against the climate crisis.