In 2019, 18 percent answered that they feel resigned to the climate situation. This year, the figure is 41 percent. The increase can be interpreted as an increased "climate fatigue" among Swedes, according to the survey "Swedes and Sustainability 2025".
Nina Wormbs, professor of technical history, believes that in 2019 there was a different situation for the climate issue than today. Then there was a broad commitment with people demonstrating around the world, and many major political decisions were made.
Since then, there has been a pandemic, it is a strained global situation and in Sweden we are not meeting several of our own or the EU's climate requirements. On Wednesday, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency came out with new preliminary statistics on greenhouse gas emissions in Sweden in 2024, which showed an increase of seven percent from the previous year.
Apathy as a defense mechanism
I think this resignation is not just about the climate getting worse, because we know that's happening, but perhaps above all that the political response one expects is not coming, says Nina Wormbs.
At the same time, 13 percent answer that they feel apathy towards climate development – an increase of five percentage points since 2019. This also goes in line with the theory of increased "climate fatigue", according to the report.
Nina Wormbs believes that it is a sign that people are trying to shield themselves.
It's really heavy to take in climate news. To be indifferent to something that is very painful is a defense mechanism.
Willing to pay
Seven out of ten answer at the same time that as a private person, one has a responsibility to actively contribute to the green transition. In this, legislation seems to have an effect: eight out of ten have changed their lifestyle as a direct result of laws related to sustainability. The majority also say they are willing to pay more if companies are forced to act more sustainably.
Nina Wormbs says that people want to see climate measures and believes that the survey goes against perceptions that people do not want to pay for the transition.
There are so many things in this report that indicate that people want to, can and wish to.
The survey "Swedes and Sustainability 2025" was conducted by Verian through Sifopanelen. It is based on 1,000 interview responses from people between 16 and 70 years old in Sweden and was conducted in May.
The survey was produced by Insight Intelligence, Öresundskraft, Sodexo and Näringslivets Producentansvar.
