Causing environmental damage should be a crime

A significant majority of people across G20 countries want politicians or leaders of large businesses to be prosecuted if they approve or permit actions which cause serious damage to the environment.

The conclusion comes from the latest Global Commons Survey 2024. Among respondents, 59% are very or extremely worried about the state of nature today, a slight increase from the 2021 survey.

In addition, 69% agree that Earth is nearing tipping points related to climate and nature due to human activities.

The headline finding was that 72% of those surveyed across 18 G20 countries want actions by politicians or business leaders that cause serious damage to nature or climate to be judged as criminal.

Poll specialist Ipsos surveyed 22 000 people aged 18 to 75 across 22 countries, including 18 within the G20. It was carried out for Earth4All and Global Commons Alliance.

The former is a collective of leading economic thinkers, scientists and advocates while the latter is a group of individual and organisations urging shared action to safeguard the planet.

Surprise

Owen Gaffney, co-lead of the Earth4All initiative, said the organisers of the survey were surprised by the strength of feeling. ‘The majority of people want to protect the global commons; 71% believe the world needs to take action immediately. Our survey demonstrates that people across the world’s largest economies are acutely aware of the urgent need to safeguard our planet for future generations.’

Women showed greater concern than men about the state of nature and for future generations; 62% of women are extremely or very worried about the state of nature today compared with 56% of men while 74% of women believe that major action to address environmental issues should be taken within the next decade, compared with 68% of men.

Female concern

Women are also significantly less likely to believe technology can solve environmental problems without individuals having to make big lifestyle changes (35% compared with 44% of men).

The survey also found that people in emerging economies such as India (87%), China (79%), Indonesia (79%), Kenya (73%) and Turkey (69%) feel more personally exposed to climate change compared to those in Europe and the United States.

Responses from 1 000 participants aged 18 to 75 across 18 G20 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the US, plus four countries outside the G20: Austria, Denmark, Kenya and Sweden.