According to new data produced by the Global Commons Alliance, 73% of people in G20 countries think the world is reaching 'potentially abrupt and irreversible tipping points' due to human actions. In the survey, these tipping points were defined as points at which climate or nature might change suddenly or might be more difficult to stabilize in the future.
The G20 members are the world’s top economies and make up 60% of the world’s population. They include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
The survey revealed that countries with developing economies were willing to do more for nature and the environment—such as Indonesia (95%), South Africa (94%), and China (93%)—than those with developed economies—such as Japan (61%), Germany (70%), and the United States (74%).
69% of people believe that the benefits of taking action on the climate outweigh the costs, and 71% agree that recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to become more resilient to future shocks.
'The world is not sleepwalking towards catastrophe. People know we are taking colossal risks. They want to do more, and they want their governments to do more,' said Owen Gaffney, lead author of the report ‘The Global Commons Survey: Attitudes to Planetary Stewardship and Transformation Among G20 Countries’ and director of communications for the Global Commons Alliance.