COP26 did not deliver a set of agreements to keep global temperature rises below 1.5℃. This will cause a host of new problems for society. Public servants form an important front line in preparing for, reacting to and coping with these new climate challenges.

During COP26, we asked our global community of public servants what they thought about climate action in government. Three key themes emerged.

Public servants:

  1. Want to do more in their roles to address the climate crisis
  2. Believe their departments **aren’t doing enough **on climate
  3. Want more resources, training and institutional buy-in to support their efforts to address climate change

Here’s what we found:

COP26 Survey Banner

COP26 Survey 2

Government's climate scorecard

COP26 Survey 3

Do you think you need to take action on climate change in your role?

COP26 Survey 4

Do you think your department is doing enough to address climate change?

COP26 Survey 5

Has any of your government-provided training included how to respond to climate change?

COP26 Survey 6

How public servants learn about climate change

COP26 Survey 7

What support do public servants need to address climate change?

COP26 Survey 8

We also asked respondents to tell us the biggest barrier to responding effectively to climate change in their department. We received hundreds of answers, here’s a small selection of them:

The biggest barrier to responding effectively to climate change in your department?

*"Time. Knowledge. Prioritisation."

"Prioritization from the administrative and executive level."

"Inadequate funding from central government"

"Department is reactive in nature, generally responds to climate-related problems after-the-fact"

"The lack of proper training in the sector"

"Institutional parochialism"

"Politics"

"Organizational buy-in. Most government agencies do not seem to be taking the climate crisis seriously. There has been no urgency."

"People believe only the climate team should work on climate, rather than understanding the intersectional nature of it."

"There is a 'We have recycle bins — surely that's enough' attitude."

"Funding and Industry cooperation"

"Lack of joined up thinking"

"Time is not allotted in our work"

"A lack of connection for upper leadership between the department's mandate and climate change."

"Failure to see the connection the department's subject area and climate change"

You can see all of the responses in full here.

(Header Image Credit: Unsplash)