From Glasgow to Dubai to Baku: A Three-Country Study of COP Awareness and Climate Change Perceptions
The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) represents a defining moment in the worldwide battle against climate change. This major United Nations climate summit will bring together world leaders, policymakers, and climate experts in Baku, Azerbaijan. They will evaluate the progress toward international climate goals and set new commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and build stronger climate resilience strategies.
This year of 2024, Azerbaijan hosts this summit that focuses on climate action through sustainable development, climate finance, and renewable energy adoption. The conference will build international cooperation, share technology, and develop adaptation strategies for at-risk regions.
As Azerbaijan prepares to host COP29, a unique comparative, comprehensive study initiated by SIAR Research and Consulting Group within its own CSR programme, offers unprecedented comparative insights across three COP host nations.
This first of its kind research, comparing public perceptions in three different countries reveals how climate consciousness evolves before, during, and after hosting major climate conferences:
- Azerbaijan's upcoming role as COP29 host in 2024 provides a forward-looking dimension to the research. Here we conducted 500 interviews with sampling error of 4.4%
- The UAE's recent hosting of COP28 in Dubai (2023) offers immediate post-conference insights. In this country we ran 541 interviews with sampling error of 4.2%
- Finally, Scotland's experience with COP26 in Glasgow (2021) adds a retrospective view. And here sample size amounted to 612 with sampling error of 4.0%
The survey has been implemented during October-November months of the year of 2024.
Key research objectives of the study included:
To assess baseline climate change awareness and concern across different cultural contexts
To measure public understanding and engagement with COP conferences
To evaluate the perceived impact of hosting COP on local communities
To analyze information dissemination patterns and media effectiveness
To understand expectations and perceived success of COP events
It is worth noting that the study was based on the questionnaire developed by SIAR team in consultancy with the local COP29 team and was focused on analysis of public awareness and attitudes toward climate change and the Conference of the Parties (COP).
As a result, this multi-country analysis comes at a crucial time when global climate action is increasingly urgent, and understanding public engagement with climate initiatives is vital for effective policy-making and climate communication strategies.
Some findings are shown below:
Scotland has the highest level of personal impact recognition (70% view climate change as a major personal concern). It is followed by the UAE with 65% acknowledging direct impact and Azerbaijan, where 59% of respondents recognize personal implications.
The remarkably high pre-event awareness in Azerbaijan (98%) demonstrates exceptional public communication effectiveness and strong national engagement with the upcoming COP29. The similar post-event awareness levels in UAE and Scotland (77% and 75% respectively) suggest a consistent pattern of retained awareness after hosting.
The stark difference in how each country views COP's primary purpose reflects varying stages of climate diplomacy engagement. Scotland's focus on intergovernmental negotiations on climate change (53%) suggests population's mature understanding of COP's core diplomatic function. Azerbaijan's emphasis on networking (36%) indicates a more practical, development-focused approach, typical of emerging markets hosting their first major climate conference.
In the UAE there is consistently higher impact expectations across all dimensions, suggesting potentially a more comprehensive approach to COP implementation than in Scotland and/or an effect of factor of time that has passed since COP26. Azerbaijan’s strong focus on environmental policies nearly matches UAE’s, indicating clear regulatory priorities.
Full report is available upon request.
For full report, please write to office@siar.az, Ashraf.Hajiyev@siar.az, or good@initiativs.com
Contacts of SIAR Research and Consulting Group:
Phone: (99412) 4472934, 4482934
Mobile: (99450) 2207903
Web-site: http://www.siar.az
Worth noting is that our website, Initiativs.com is also powered by SIAR Research and Consulting Group
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