When Climate Hits Home: Public attitudes to adaptation across six continents

This week, we published When Climate Hits Home, a survey of more than 18,000 people across 18 countries, produced with Morphosis Solutions and the Climate Opinion Research Exchange.

2026 is the year climate change went global. Rich economies are now absorbing the kinds of impacts they have largely ignored in other countries for decades, and the politics have moved with the weather. Wildfires, droughts, heatwaves and floods have dominated the news and forced serious responses from politicians and business.

We wanted to know whether public opinion had moved too, and where. So, we polled around 1,000 people in each of 18 countries, together home to 55 percent of the world's population and 71 percent of global GDP. It is one of the most extensive public polls on climate adaptation yet conducted.

Concern is near universal, and it crosses political lines

More than three in four respondents (76 percent) are concerned about climate impacts, including 35 percent who are very concerned. Concern is the majority view in every country polled, reaching 94 percent in India, 92 percent in Kenya and 88 percent in Indonesia. Offered the statement “climate change is not real, so there is no need to do anything,” three percent agreed.

The political fractures over the net zero agenda are real. They narrow sharply when the question turns to adapting to extreme weather, including among supporters of parties that take sceptical stances on climate science. You no longer have to accept the science to act on the weather.

Concern has become economic, which makes it politically salient

Respondents across the 18 countries ranked cost of living as the most important issue facing their country, and 72 percent expect climate change to push prices up over the next five years. More than half, 55 percent, expect it to harm their safety and security. Some 45 percent expect it to disrupt how they earn a living, rising to a clear majority in India, Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa.

That is the shift worth paying attention to. Climate has become a question of household economics, which turns general concern into demands politicians must answer.

Governments are expected to lead, and are judged to be behind

People name government as most responsible for adaptation across every policy area we tested, from public health to protection from extreme weather, with business expected to lead on new technologies. Two in three want their government to do more, rising to 88 percent in South Africa and 92 percent in Kenya.

Yet 43 percent rate their government's efforts so far as ineffective or entirely ineffective, and 56 percent say there is no clear plan to adapt. Majorities say so in 16 of the 18 countries.

People reject the choice between adapting and cutting emissions

The public does not accept the nascent political argument that countries should stop trying to influence the climate and concentrate on coping with its impacts. Asked whether their country should focus on cutting emissions or adapting, 65 percent chose a combination, and “we should focus equally on both” was the most popular answer in every country polled. Only 13 percent want to focus entirely on emissions, and 11 percent entirely on adaptation.

The reverse reluctance also finds no support. A majority, 53 percent, believe action on adaptation will make efforts to cut emissions more ambitious, and in every country surveyed more people expect adaptation to raise ambition than to lower it.

“Climate has stopped being an abstraction,” says Natalie Samarasinghe, our Executive Director. “People expect to feel it in their bills, their jobs and their safety, and they are asking their governments for a plan. The public is running well ahead of the political debate, and across lines politicians assume are fixed.”

“People understand what climate impacts do to the cost of living, to jobs, and to the local and national economies they depend on,” says Dr Simon Zadek, Founder and Managing Partner of Morphosis. “That is why the demand for adaptation is immediate and ambitious, and why it is coming from everywhere at once.”

Months, not years

With a “super” El Niño underway, more extreme weather is expected in 2027. The window for preparing is measured in months.

Simon Zadek and Natalie Samarasinghe set out the argument behind the research in Project Syndicate, published on 15 September 2026.

Read the full report. The full report is available here, and the data can be explored by country, question and demographic group on the platform hosted by the Climate Opinion Research Exchange.

Fieldwork was conducted online by Norstat between 22 July and 10 August 2026 in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Around 1,000 respondents were interviewed in each country, giving a margin of error of ±3.1 points nationally and ±0.73 points on the merged figures. Data were weighted to be nationally representative. In countries with lower internet penetration, samples skew towards respondents who are more urban, educated and politically engaged. Merged figures represent the 18 countries in the study, not the world.

Jacob Warn, Morphosis: media@morphosis.solutions
Julia Vinogradov, Vibe Fund: connect@vibefnd.org
Dustin Gilbreath, CORE: dustin@climateopinion.org