The proportion of employees who believe that their employers are doing enough to address climate change and sustainability has dropped to around 38% over the past few years, according to a new survey released by global professional services firm Deloitte, which also found that climate and sustainability considerations impact individual’s choices in areas ranging from investing and purchasing to employment and even where to live.
The findings were released as part of Deloitte’s newly launched “Sustainability Signals Dashboard,” based on twice-annual surveys of approximately 20,000 respondents across 20 countries, exploring how environmental awareness and related behaviors are shifting over time.
The survey found that large majorities of respondents globally believe that climate change is an emergency, and that it is driven by human activities, while most also report that they have directly experienced extreme weather events.
Overall 65% of respondents agree that climate change is an emergency, while younger respondents are slightly more likely than their older counterparts to agree, with 68% of 18-34 year-olds agreeing, compared with 63% of those 55 and older. Notably, U.S. respondents are less likely to agree, at only 52%, while the survey also found a more pronounced gap in agreement by age, at 55% of younger respondents, compared with 48% of those 55 and older.
The survey also found that 75% of respondents believe in anthropogenic, or human-caused climate change, with this proportion remaining relatively steady over the past few years, ranging from 70% to 78% in surveys since 2021. While U.S. respondents are less likely to believe in human-caused climate change, they have been closing the gap with their global peers, with 70% of those in the U.S. now agreeing, up from only 60% in a 2023 survey.
Respondents’ climate perceptions appear to be impacting workplace and consumption behaviors and attitudes, according to the survey results, which found that only 38% of respondents agree that their employer was adequately addressing climate change and sustainability, declining from 45% in 2021. The drop has been particularly sharp in the U.S., where only 34% now believe that their companies are doing enough on climate change and sustainability, down from 53% in 2021.
Employees’ sustainability perceptions may also be impacting their employment choices, according to the survey, with approximately a quarter of respondents reporting that they have considered switching jobs to work for a more sustainable company, or a company with a less significant impact on the environment, and a similar proportion agreeing that they will consider a potential employer’s position on sustainability before accepting a job.
The survey also found that sustainable investing attitudes have remained steady over the past few years, with 33% of respondents reporting that sustainability and climate considerations are impacting their choices of investments, funds and banks, increasing slightly from 31% in 2021.
Similarly, Deloitte also noted that demand for sustainable products has remained steady, with around half of consumers surveyed since 2021 reporting that they have purchased at least one sustainable product every month. While 38% of respondents to the most recent survey said that they paid more for a sustainable product relative to an alternative in their last such purchase, price is consistently the top barrier to sustainable purchases, reported by 40% of respondents, followed by “I don’t want to change the products I use,” at 22%.
The survey also found that climate considerations are impacting relocation decisions, with 50% of respondents reporting that climate change would be a decision criteria in choosing where to live in a future move, and 11% saying that they had already or were planning to relocate due to climate impacts. Younger respondents were significantly more likely to report that climate considerations were impacting their location decisions, with 64% of 18-34 year-olds saying that climate change impacts were causing them to re-think where they want to live, compared with 52% of 35-54 year-olds and 37% of those 55 and older.
Click here to access Deloitte’s survey dashboard.
