The majority of Germans are demanding more climate protection from politicians and therefore believe changes in the country are necessary. In addition to other countries, they see the government and the economy as being responsible. That comes from one Opinion poll from the think tank More in Common, which was presented on Monday. Accordingly, 55 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement that politicians should increase their climate protection efforts, and another 18 percent wanted to as much climate protection as before and 22 percent would like less climate protection.
More in Common surveyed 2,003 people for the study last September. Compared to other topics, climate protection has become less important to many Germans. While in a survey at the beginning of 2024 the respondents considered climate protection to be the fourth most important issue in Germany, in the survey at the end of 2025 it was only in ninth place.
“Climate protection has been pushed aside primarily by security issues,” explains David Melches, co-author of the study. “This shows how strong the difficult economic situation and rising prices have been.”
However, Jan Eichhorn, founder of the think tank dpart and political scientist at the University of Edinburgh, points out that if you ask people about their priorities, “they usually say which topics they perceive as important in public discourse.” This means: If a topic receives less attention from politicians and journalists, It is also perceived by citizens. Eichhorn was not involved in the current study. He thinks it’s methodologically sound.
Even those who are suspicious are worried about climate change
While 80 percent of those surveyed in 2021 said they were worried about global warming, in the current survey it was only 65 percent. But even among those who are suspicious of politics, science and the media, almost half of those surveyed are worried about climate change. More in Common calls this group “the angry ones,” who make up about a sixth of the population.
86 percent of those surveyed expect more action against global warming from large industrial nations such as the USA and China63 percent from business and 62 percent from the federal government.
“In general, people doubt the country’s future viability,” says Jérémie Gagné, who worked on the study. “We have to link this need for design and the climate issue: How do we move the country forward in a climate-friendly way?”
Significant minority wants more climate skepticism
Specifically, 85 percent of those surveyed would like more investment in local public transport and 82 percent want guarantees for the long-term development of energy prices. Around two thirds were in favor of financial benefits such as climate money as well as requiring industry to protect the climate and banning products that are particularly harmful to the climate. “If we want people to get involved, they need an advance contribution from the community,” says Gagné.
As in most surveys, about three-quarters of More in Common respondents know that the earth is warming and that this climate change is man-made. However, another quarter think that more doubts about the reality of climate change would be appropriate. “This shouldn’t cause any alarm,” says political scientist Eichhorn, “but it shows that a fairly significant minority doubts the consensus.” Extreme right-wingers would have it at this point successfully drove a wedge into the debate.