Study: Feeling the heat: More than half of Canadians are highly concerned about climate change

Released: 2026-07-08

In 2025, over (53%) half of Canadians were "very" or "extremely" concerned about climate change, and almost one-third (30%) of Canadians felt stressed about climate change at least once a month.

These results are from a new article released today, entitled "Feeling the heat: More than half of Canadians are highly concerned about climate change." This article uses data from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) which, for the first time, included questions about people's views on climate change.

The study examines which groups of Canadians are more likely to express concern about climate change, to believe in its effects, and to take action to attempt to reduce their impact on the environment.

Older demographics, women and university graduates are more likely to be highly concerned about climate change than their counterparts

Media and policy discussions on climate change often focus on youth, as this group is more likely than older demographics to face the long-term impacts of climate change. In 2025, however, it was Canadians aged 65 years and older that were more likely to report being highly concerned about climate change (59%), compared with their younger counterparts (51% among Canadians aged 15 to 24 years).

In general, women (59%) were more likely than men (48%) to report having high levels of concern about climate change. Similarly, university graduates (60%) were more likely than people without a high school diploma (46%) to report having high levels of concern about climate change.

Women, university graduates and urban residents are more likely to feel stress about climate change at least once a month

To further explore the psychosocial effects of climate change on Canadians, the CSS also asked how frequently people felt stress about climate change.

In 2025, 3 in 10 Canadians (30%) reported feeling stressed about climate change at least once a month, but some groups were more likely to feel that stress than their counterparts. Overall, women (34%) were more likely than men (25%) to report feeling stress about climate change at least once a month, and a similar gap was seen between university graduates (35%) and people without a high school diploma (26%), as well as between urban (31%) and rural (24%) residents.

People who are highly concerned and more frequently stressed about climate change are more likely to report taking action to reduce their impact on the environment

In 2025, the actions people most commonly reported taking to reduce their impact on the environment were reducing food waste (65%) and reducing energy consumption (57%). Overall, people who reported having both high levels of concern and stress about climate change at least once a month were more likely to report reducing food waste (79%) and energy consumption (73%) than people who reported having lower levels of concern about climate change (53% and 44%, respectively).

Products

The article titled "Feeling the heat: More than half of Canadians are highly concerned about climate change" is now available in Insights on Canadian Society (Catalogue number75-006-X).

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).