The power of circumstances
The reality behind the drive to become sustainable
Latin America experienced extreme weather events in 2024. In Brazil, floods devastated Rio Grande do Sul. In Argentina, a heat wave exceeded 40ºC on thermometers. Not to mention the forest fires in Chile, the water crisis in the Bogotá region in Colombia and earthquakes in Mexico.
This context caused the ranking of the greatest concerns related to sustainability to undergo a significant change: global warming jumped to first place – an unprecedented feat since we began the study six years ago. Concerns about the climate grew by 3 percentage points between 2023 and 2024, from 13% to 16%, and was even greater in Brazil and Argentina, increasing by 173% and 122%, respectively.
But Latin Americans remain concerned about water issues: water scarcity (12%), plastic waste (12%), water pollution (11%) and water wastage (11%). It is worth highlighting the concern about food wastage among Chileans, with 10% of mentions vs. 7% of the total in Latin America.
To understand the evolution of the population's concerns and the level of commitment to sustainability, however, we need to broaden our view and understand the other circumstances we are experiencing.
An example in this context is that 24% of people already relate environmental conditions with negative impacts on their physical and mental health.
From an economic and social perspective, more and more people say it is very difficult to act sustainably in our region due to social or economic issues. We see a significant increase of 8 percentage points, reaching 22% of Latin Americans who agree with this statement.
It is very difficult to act sustainably in our region due to social or economic issues.
