We're in a war for truth' Heatwaves failing to spur support for climate action

As heatwaves engulfed large swaths of Europe and North America last week, green groups expressed frustration that the weather alerts had not spurred the support for climate action they had hoped for.

- Ajit Niranjan Elsie McDowell

Governments across the rich world continue to roll back policies intended to stop the planet from heating, while far-right parties that deny climate science lash out at environment rules even as disasters unfold.

Their voters, while rarely climate-deniers themselves, seem to tolerate their energetic attacks on environmental policy, if not support them.

Polls conducted over the second-to-last weekend of June showed that most people in the UK found the previous week of weather too hot, were worried it would get hotter, and held global heating at least partly to blame.

But More in Common also found that the share of people concerned about climate change had fallen over the past year, dipping from 68% to 60%. Support for the UK's target to hit net-zero emissions by 2050 fell even further, from 62% to 46%.