Climate change, environment and pollution is the British public’s number one pressing concern, a poll has found.

Four in 10 people said they were the major issue for Britain, the highest ever score for the topic since it was included in October 1988 – double the amount who thought the economy was the biggest concern.

The Ipsos MORI survey of 1,009 British adults took place during the UN climate summit COP26 in November, when protests over climate action dominated the headlines.

Michael Clemence, associate research director at Ipsos MORI, said the record high concern was “likely an impact of the COP26 conference”.

But he pointed out the “widespread agreement on this priority across different groups including across supporters of both the Labour and Conservative parties, although younger people stand out as putting COVID-19 marginally ahead.”

Concern was also similar among different social grades.

Leo Barasi, former pollster and author of The Climate Majority said this was a “remarkable turnaround in public opinion”.

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“Four years ago the environment wasn’t even a top-15 issue with the public… Since then we’ve had a string of heatwaves and floods, UN science reports and mass public protests – and opinion has changed dramatically,” he added.

It is only the third time in more than 30 years the environment has topped the list of important issues facing the country in the polling, but is part of a trend, with concern rising dramatically since 2018.

Colin Malaney from the Conservative Environment Network said the poll should give the prime minister confidence that “he has the strong backing of the public, including Conservative voters, to press on with the policies needed to reach net zero”.

The over-55s have the highest concern for the environment, with 47% citing it as a major issue, compared to 43% of those aged 35-54 and only slightly over a quarter (27%) of the 18-to-34 age group, who ranked COVID-19 as a bigger issue.

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