'Most people ready to make sacrifices' to help climate

Straits Times 6 Nov 07; Many are prepared to make lifestyle changes and pay energy taxes: Poll

LONDON - MOST people around the globe are prepared to make sacrifices and even fork out more money in taxes if it means the world will be better protected against climate change.

A survey of more than 22,000 people in 21 countries has found that four in five people are prepared to change their lifestyle - even in the US and China, the globe's two biggest polluters.

The poll was carried out on behalf of the BBC and the results were published on its website yesterday.

The findings show that 83per cent of people believe changes have to be made to the lifestyles of individuals in order to reduce the level of climate-

changing carbon gases in the atmosphere.

Three-quarters of those polled backed energy taxes if the cash was used to find new sources of energy or boost efficiency.

And Chinese respondents were more positive than any others in this regard, with 85per cent in favour of energy taxes - a full 24 percentage points higher than the next most supportive nations.

The poll also suggested that a large majority of people in each country surveyed believe that sacrifices will be necessary.

In almost all countries in Europe, and in the US, most people believe the cost of fuels that contribute most to climate change - carbon-based fossil fuels such as oil and coal - will have to increase.

Attitudes towards rising energy costs in Asia and Africa are more varied.

In China and Indonesia, large majorities believe that higher energy costs are necessary, but in South Korea and India, the majorities in favour of higher prices are much smaller.

In Nigeria, 52per cent of the respondents do not believe that higher fuel costs would be necessary to combat global warming.

Opinions are divided on proposals to increase taxes on fossil fuels. Worldwide, only 50per cent are in favour and 44per cent are opposed.

After China, Australia and Chile are the most supportive of energy taxes, with 61per cent of those surveyed in favour.

In the rest of the world, only narrow majorities - and sometimes minorities - favour higher energy taxes.

However, when people opposed to energy taxes are asked whether their opinions would change if the revenue from the taxes were used to increase energy efficiency or develop cleaner fuel, large majorities are produced in every country in favour of higher taxes.

And when those opposed to higher taxes are asked whether they would change their minds if other taxes were reduced in order to keep their overall tax burden unchanged, the survey again discovered large majorities in every country in favour of higher green taxes.

'This poll clearly shows that people are much more ready to endure their share of the burden than most politicians grant,' said Mr Doug Miller, director of Globescan, the polling company that conducted the survey.

Globescan interviewed 22,182 people in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the US.


PlanetArk 6 Nov 07
Most Would Pay Higher Bills to Help Climate - Poll
Story by Jeremy Lovell

LONDON - Millions of people around the world are willing to make personal sacrifices, including paying higher bills, to help redress climate change, a global survey said on Monday.

The survey found 83 percent of those questioned believed lifestyle changes would be necessary to cut emissions of climate warming carbon gases.

The survey, conducted by two polling organisations for the BBC World Service, covered 22,000 people in 21 countries.

In 14 of the 21 countries from Canada to Australia, 61 percent overall said it would be necessary to increase energy costs to encourage conservation and reduce carbon emissions.

"People around the world recognise that climate change requires that people change their behaviour," said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes which conducted the poll with GlobeScan.

"And that to provide incentives for those changes there will need to be an increase in the cost of energy that contributes to climate change," he added.

Scientists say carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport will push global average temperatures up by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius (3.2 and 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, causing floods, famines and violent storms putting millions at risk.

CLIMATE TAXES

The response to climate taxes was more muted than that on raised energy prices, but it swung in favour if the revenue from those taxes was ring-fenced for use solely on measures to raise energy efficiency or develop clean energy sources.

There was also a greater acceptance of higher green taxes if they were offset by cuts in taxation elsewhere so the net effect on the individual's pocket was neutral.

"While few citizens welcome higher taxes, the poll suggests that national leaders could succeed in introducing a carbon tax on energy," said GlobeScan President Doug Miller.

"The key requirement is that their citizens trust that the resulting tax revenues will be invested in addressing climate change by increasing energy efficiency and developing cleaner fuels," he added.

The survey said the findings applied equally in China, which is building a coal-fired power station a week to feed its booming economy, and in the United States, which is the world's biggest carbon polluter -- although China is fast catching up.

They will be ammunition for UN environment ministers when they meet on the Indonesian island of Bali in December amid urgent calls to agree to start talks on a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions which expires in 2012.

BBC News 5 Nov 07
Most ready for 'green sacrifices'

Most people are ready to make personal sacrifices to address climate change, according to a BBC poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries.

Four out of five people indicated they were prepared to change their lifestyle - even in the US and China, the world's two biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.

Opinion was split over tax rises on oil and coal - 44% against, 50% in favour.

Support would rise if the cash was used to boost efficiency and find new energy sources, the poll suggested.

BBC environment reporter Matt McGrath says the poll suggests that in many countries people are more willing than their governments to contemplate serious changes to their lifestyles to combat global warming.

Overall, 83% of respondents throughout the world agreed that individuals would definitely or probably have to make lifestyle changes to reduce the amount of climate-changing gases they produce.

In almost all countries in Europe, and in the US, most people said they believed the cost of fuels that contribute most to climate change would have to increase.

The only exceptions were Italy and Russia, where significant numbers of people believed that increases in the price of energy would not be needed.

The pollsters suggested that high energy costs in both countries could have put people off the idea of increasing prices even further.

Attitudes to rising energy costs in Asia and Africa were more varied.

Large majorities in China said higher energy costs were necessary - although the BBC's Dan Griffiths, in Beijing, pointed out that people interviewed over the telephone were unlikely to contradict official policy.

In South Korea and India, the majorities in favour of higher prices were much smaller.

And in Nigeria, 52% of the respondents said they did not think higher fuel costs would be necessary to combat global warming.

Green China?

Opinions were divided on proposals to increase taxes on fossil fuels.

Worldwide, 50% are in favour and 44% are opposed.

The Chinese are the most enthusiastic when it comes to energy taxes - 85% of those polled saying they were in favour, 24 percentage points more than in the next most-supportive countries.

In the rest of the world, narrow majorities - and sometimes minorities - favoured higher energy taxes.

However, when people opposed to energy taxes were asked whether their opinion would change if the revenue from the taxes were used to increase energy efficiency or develop cleaner fuel, large majorities in every country were in favour of higher taxes.

And when those opposed to higher taxes were asked whether they would change their minds if other taxes were reduced in order to keep their total tax burden the same, the survey again discovered large majorities in every country in favoured of higher green taxes.

"This poll clearly shows that people are much more ready to endure their share of the burden than most politicians grant," said Doug Miller, director of Globescan, the polling company that conducted the survey on behalf of the BBC.

Globescan interviewed 22,182 people in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, and the United States.

Interviews were conducted face-to-face or by telephone between 29 May 29 and 26 July 2007.