Epson has published the 2023 edition of its Climate Reality Barometer, a survey of people from diverse countries, ages and backgrounds to gauge the understanding of, and attitudes towards, climate change.
The survey indicated that while Indians are concerned about climate change, they remain extremely positive when it comes to its likely impact. This is a concern and may indicate that Indians have not completely understood the likely impact of climate change, now or in the future. However, Indians are already acting on certain aspects to mitigate the climate emergency and even leading the world in some areas.
The survey covered over 30,000 people across 39 global markets, including 3,000 adults in India.
Key Insights
Key highlights from the Indian sample include:
Around 58.6% of Indians think climate change is one of the biggest issues facing the world today, followed by rising prices (46.4%) and poverty (32.1%). Climate change ranked as the top issue globally too, with 55.32% of respondents rating it as a major concern.
However, 76.7% of Indians are optimistic that a climate disaster can be averted in their lifetime. This is above the global average of 47% of people being optimistic.
Around 10% of Indians are pessimistic about averting a climate disaster in their lifetime. This is significantly lower than the global average of 26.5% who are pessimistic.
Indians are the most likely to boycott unsustainable brands in the world, with 83.3% of respondents saying they already boycott or are likely to boycott such brands in the future. The worldwide average is 64.6%.
While the worldwide average of those who want to or have already switched to an electric vehicle is 70.3%, India leads with 87.4% showing positive intent on this issue.
Nearly seven in 10 Indians (68.8%) are already reducing plastic use, and over half of the respondents (58.7%) are improving recycling habits to fight climate change. Reusable shopping bags are already being used by 64.1% of those surveyed.
Similar to survey respondents around the world, Indians also believe that companies have an important role to play in the fight against climate change. Indians believe the most important things organisations can do are: invest in environmental technologies (48.7%), improve recycling and reuse products (40.7%) and encourage employee participation in environmental activities (30.3%).
"The Epson Climate Reality Barometer once again shows us that some people continue to ignore catastrophic climate change and refuse, or feel unable, to act. It is however heartening to note that Indians are making serious efforts to bring in a change," Samba Moorthy, president of Epson India, said.
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