Scientists rate as the most trusted and most listened-to source of information about climate change in some of the most populous countries in the Global South, according to a new study.
Study participants’ “understanding of climate issues was not that much lower than in Global North countries in spite of the gap in formal education levels,” says study team member Thomas Sterner, an environmental economist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Sterner and his colleagues conducted an online survey of 8,400 people, with 1,200 participants in each of seven countries: Chile, Columbia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Vietnam. The study included questions about people’s climate change knowledge, information sources, and policy preferences.
Relatively few studies have investigated climate change attitudes in the Global South, and there are even fewer broad surveys that enable comparison of views across multiple countries. But this information is “vital,” Sterner says, “since most of the future emissions may come from these countries.”
Study participants were asked to rank 12 different sources of information about climate change in terms of how much they pay attention to and how much they trust each. Across all countries, scientists ranked first for both trust and attention, the researchers report in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Within each country, scientists ranked highest in trust everywhere except Vietnam, where they came second to TV programs. Mainstream media sources also rate highly for both trust and attention across this set of countries.
At the bottom of the trust list are social media, friends, and religious leaders. The low trust in these sources runs counter to conventional wisdom and to findings from studies conducted in wealthy countries.
Participants assessed a series of 12 statements about the basic science, human causes, and likely consequences of climate change as true or false. People who rely on scientists for climate information tend to have more accurate knowledge about climate change, the researchers found. The effect is about twice as large that of having a college degree.
Overall, study participants rated climate change as an important issue for their country – at least 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 5 in each nation. But when asked to rank climate change among 13 different government policy priorities, participants on average placed climate change ninth, behind issues like improving healthcare, decreasing corruption, and increasing employment.
“From a methodological perspective, we provide an alternative to the usual ‘do you agree or disagree’ kind of question and make explicit tradeoffs. This provides a richer picture,” Sterner says. “When we just ask respondents if they think climate is a high priority virtually all agree but when direct tradeoffs had to be made, the priority of climate policies is much lower.”
Health care was a strong policy priority in all countries, and when asked to rank the importance of seven health-related issues, study participants consistently placed respiratory problems tied to air pollution and smoking at the top of the list. “This suggests the importance of secondary benefits (cleaning up air pollution) tied to climate policy,” Sterner says. It’s not clear whether the study participants see a direct connection between climate change and local air pollution, however.
Asked how they would prefer that the revenues from a carbon tax be used, participants suggested spending on education and health, followed by subsidizing solar panels and green technology research and development. People didn’t much like the idea of using carbon tax revenues for deficit reduction or uniform rebates – policies that tend to be favored by economists.
Source: Carson R.T. et al. “The public’s views on climate policies in seven large global south countries.” Nature Climate Change, 2025.
Image: ©Anthropocene Magazine.
