Climate Survey 2025: Divided by Religious Affiliation

The National Institute for Climate and Environmental Policy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev published their 2025 Climate Survey, examining Israeli public attitudes toward the climate crisis, risk perception, trust in scientific institutions, and willingness to adopt behavioral change. Whereas the 2024 survey analyzed public attitudes by political affiliation, this year’s survey focused on differences by religious affiliation. The findings point to much deeper divides than those identified previously:

• Secular and traditional Israelis are concerned about the climate crisis; among religious and ultra-Orthodox respondents, indifference is more pronounced.
• Levels of concern about the impacts of climate change are high across the public, but readiness to change lifestyles is low, especially when it involves personal sacrifice.
• Trust in scientists is high among secular respondents and particularly low among the ultra-Orthodox; across all groups, however, trust in social media remains low.
• False beliefs are more prevalent among religious groups; the survey indicates a need to make knowledge more accessible through community-tailored outreach.
• The data indicate that religious affiliation explains climate attitudes in Israel more strongly than political affiliation.

Most Israelis are concerned about the direct effects of climate change, including air pollution, extreme weather events, and flooding.

At an emotional level, respondents were asked to describe their feelings about the climate crisis itself. The results show that 68% of Israelis are worried about it. However, when the data is broken down by religious group, a more complex picture emerges: 75% of secular respondents and 70% of traditional respondents report concern about the climate crisis, compared with only 57% of religious respondents and just 39% of ultra-Orthodox respondents. At the same time, 41% of religious respondents and 46% of ultra-Orthodox respondents report feeling indifferent toward the crisis.

These gaps are also reflected in willingness to act. Israelis are most willing to adopt behaviors that offer personal economic savings: 47% are willing to recycle, 47% to purchase energy-efficient appliances, and 41% to reduce water use. By contrast, when personal sacrifice is required, willingness drops sharply: only 22% are willing to reduce consumption of animal-based foods, only 18% to fly less, and just 13% are willing to pay more for water for the sake of the environment. Here too, there are substantial differences by religious group: 55% of secular respondents are willing to recycle, compared with 26% of ultra-Orthodox respondents. Twenty-seven percent of secular respondents are willing to reduce animal-based foods, compared with only 6% of ultra-Orthodox respondents. In actions related to transportation preferences, 30% of secular respondents are willing to use public transportation more, compared with 15% of ultra-Orthodox respondents, and willingness to pay higher taxes shows a similar gap: 18% of secular respondents versus 6% of ultra-Orthodox respondents.

Another key finding concerns trust in science: 76% of secular respondents express trust in scientists and academia, whereas among ultra-Orthodox respondents the figure is only 33%. By contrast, trust in social media is low across all groups: 19% of secular respondents and 6% of ultra-Orthodox respondents say they trust it. This finding reinforces the insight that the Israeli public prefers institutional or community-based sources of knowledge over information disseminated via social networks.

The survey also found a high prevalence of false beliefs about climate change, particularly among religious groups. Forty-seven percent of the public believe that scientists are divided on the question of climate change, and among ultra-Orthodox respondents the share rises to 55%. Forty percent of respondents believe that the fight against climate change “may cause more harm than benefit,” and this view is especially common among ultra-Orthodox respondents (50%) compared with secular respondents (29%). These findings underscore the need to make scientific knowledge more accessible and to develop community-tailored messaging that can bridge gaps in trust and support public decision-making processes.

In comparison with the 2024 survey, one conclusion becomes sharper and more consequential: religious affiliation explains variation in attitudes toward the climate crisis in Israel more clearly than political affiliation does. While differences between right and left existed but were relatively moderate, the gaps between secular and ultra-Orthodox respondents, in risk perception, level of concern, trust in science, and willingness to act, are much larger and consistent across all measures. This conclusion poses a new challenge for climate policy in Israel, requiring cultural adaptation rather than political messaging alone, and more precise engagement with different communities in the values-based language that resonates with them.

Tamar Zandberg, head of the National Institute for Climate and Environmental Policy, said: “The 2025 Survey shows that Israeli discourse on the climate crisis is not primarily divided along right-left lines, but rather along cultural and religious differences. To advance effective climate policy in Israel, we must develop a deeper understanding of the sources of trust, emotions, and values within each group. The public expresses concern about the impacts and anxiety about the crisis, but translating this into action requires precise adaptations, accessible and reliable knowledge, and policy that creates a double benefit—both environmental and economic.”

The analysis of the survey findings was conducted at the Laboratory for Communication and Social Bias Research in the Department of Communication at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, by Dr. Yossi David (principal investigator), Lee Or Biton (lab manager), and Naama Cohen (research assistant). Scientific consultation was provided by Dr. Avner Gross, from the Department of Environmental Sciences, Geoinformatics and Urban Planning, and Dr. Tehila Kalagy, from the Department of Management and Public Policy, both at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.