A man cleans up recycle bins at the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on November 7, 2022.ne of the most pervasive misunderstandings I hear in some corporate circles is that consumers really don’t care about climate change because, by and large, they aren’t willing to pay much to address it.
In a recent poll asking who bears responsibility for climate change, respondents answered decisively: companies, first and foremost, are responsible. In the June 4 University of Chicago62% of respondents said that industry bears significant responsibility in cutting emissions. That’s followed closely by 59% who say the same about the federal government. .
But the findings are nonetheless worth reflecting on. For one, they throw cold water on the long-running campaigns by some companies and industry groups aimed at convincing individuals to take responsibility for climate change. Despite decades of pushing that message, only 41% of respondents to the Chicago survey said individuals bear significant responsibility for addressing climate change.