Climate Behaviour Monitor: IPB publishes results of latest survey

This reveals three trends that will now be monitored further:

• Firstly, the willingness to take action – in particular political participation – has fallen slightly compared to previous surveys.

The willingness to participate in politics, such as taking part in discussions, petitions or campaigns, is falling slightly. This trend has existed since the end of 2024. A slight downward trend can also be seen in the acceptance of political climate protection measures, such as speed limits or the expansion of local public transport, although this is not significant. However, individual behaviour has remained stable. For example, meat consumption, the number of flight hours or the avoidance of food waste have not changed over time. According to the IPB, the data indicates a moderate decrease in the respondents' willingness to take political action, while everyday, climate-friendly behaviour has remained largely stable. The reasons for this are still unclear.

• Secondly, the perception of how strongly the current federal government is committed to climate protection has fallen significantly since October last year (traffic light coalition) until today (black-red coalition).

It can also be observed that respondents in November 2025 perceive less commitment from the black-red government to climate protection than they did at the end of 2024 with the last government (traffic light coalition). Expectations of the government remain significantly higher than the perceived political commitment of the federal government to climate protection. The IPB interprets this finding as follows: Desire and reality diverge, citizens want more climate protection than they perceive from the federal government.

• However, thirdly, the desire for more commitment to climate protection by political parties and the government remains: People want more climate protection than they currently perceive.

The high expectations of the government and the declining commitment result in a clear gap, which is also visible at party political level: Respondents would like to see more commitment to climate protection from almost all parties than they currently perceive – with the exception of the FDP and AfD, but even here at least there is no desire for less climate protection. Other results also indicate this: 44 per cent of respondents would like the government to strengthen climate protection, 30 per cent think it should remain the same and only 20 per cent want to weaken it (6 per cent do not know). According to the IPB, the continuing discrepancy showsthat large sections of the population expect more ambitious climate policy than is currently being implemented politically.

For details, please refer to the summary of the new survey in the Planetary Health Action Survey.