Climate Summit Stirs up Emotions from Eco-Anxiety to Eco-Hope

We live in an age of constant information flow—one in which climate knowledge is not only produced and disseminated at scale, but also continuously consumed, interpreted, and responded to in everyday life. For those working within the climate space, and increasingly for those outside it, daily routines unfold alongside a steady stream of climate news, opinions, data, and lived experiences circulating across digital platforms. Our engagement with this information is neither static nor uniform; it shifts across emotions, moments, contexts, and seasons.

The recently concluded Mumbai Climate Week 2026 exemplified this dynamic. In the last couple of weeks, social media feeds and online news platforms were filled with reflections, critiques, endorsements, and debates emerging from invitees, attendees, organizers, participants, and even those observing from afar. 

These conversations offered spaces - to learn, ask questions, form opinions, network, and also disengage from ideas.

Taken together, such digital expressions raise an important question: what do these reactions reveal about how people emotionally engage with climate change today? Mapping the climate emotions embedded within these conversations can provide valuable insights into public engagement patterns. Understanding which emotions dominate—and how they shape perception and response—can help channel behavioral commitments and inform more effective individual, collective, policy, and socio-economic climate action (How do you feel about Climate Change? | Insights & Research).

To gain an insight, 75 social media posts about the Mumbai Climate Week were randomly picked where key words were qualified under 6 key Climate Emotions. The reflections often contained more than one climate emotion which only strengthens the understanding that climate work is engaged with, through a continuum of emotions. 

It moves from distress to agency, but rarely in a linear fashion. It loops back repeatedly in response to new information and experiences: 

news often triggers anxiety,

inaction fuels frustration and anger, 

reflection brings guilt or grief, 

burnout leads to powerlessness, 

community creates responsibility and agency, 

action generates hope, and 

connection with nature evokes awe — before the cycle begins again.

Table: The 6 Climate Emotions identified from the views expressed following the event

Source: The Capital P Lab

The Mumbai Climate Week has been successful in giving Eco-Hope to the climate ecosystem in abundance. It also provided a safe space for attendees to voice their Eco-Grief stemming from ecological loss and unprecedented extreme weather disasters the city has faced in the last decade.

However, whether this hope translates into Eco-Agency or Eco-Frustration, will be determined by the on-ground impact created in terms of fund mobilization, meaningful partnerships and climate resilience initiatives that follow the event in coming months.

Chart: Frequency of Reported Climate Emotions

Also, a key takeaway for future events would be to reduce Eco-Dissonance. This can be achieved by making climate events more environment-friendly, sustainable and inclusive.