• Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, survey finds
• Nearly half of all 12,000 respondents in 12 countries chose climate change ahead of the economy
Alok Jha, guardian.co.uk 26 Nov 08;
Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, according to a survey carried out in 12 countries by a coalition of climate groups.
Despite the looming prospect of a deep global recession, 43% of the 12,000 respondents of the survey chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. Worldwide, 77% of respondents wanted to see their governments cutting carbon by their fair share or more, in order to allow developing countries to grow their economies.
The survey was carried out for the HSBC Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the international bank and climate NGOs including WWF, the Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Lord Stern, and adviser to HSBC on economic development and climate change and former adviser to the UK government, said: "This research demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change. The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this. Now is the time to lay the foundations of a new form of growth that can transform our economies and societies."
The results of the group's climate confidence monitor are based on an internet questionnaire presented to to 1,000 people each in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, UK and the US. The survey was conducted between mid-September and early October 2008.
Even in many emerging countries, people said their governments must reduce greenhouse gases - 62% of respondents in China said they should reduce emissions and only 4% said the country's emissions should be allowed to increase. In Mexico and Brazil, more than 80% wanted emissions cuts that tallied with their fair share of global targets – as high a level as in developed countries. In the USA, 72% of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries.
David Nussbaum, the chief executive of WWF-UK, said: "The current global economic crisis is a stark reminder of the consequences of living beyond our means. As the world looks to restore its economies we must build in long-term environmental as well as economic sustainability."
Steve Howard, chief executive of the Climate Group, a coalition of businesses and governments aimed at moving towards a low-carbon economy, said the survey showed that "politicians have the political will of the people behind them to come to an agreement on climate change. Politicians now have the support they need to seize this historic opportunity and secure a global deal on climate change."
'World mandate' on climate action
Richard Black, BBC News 26 Nov 08;
An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change.
About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough.
In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change.
The survey was commissioned by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes business and environmental groups.
Lord Nicholas Stern, who led the 2006 Stern Review into the economics of climate change and now works as a special advisor to the HSBC partnership, said this amounted to a global mandate for stronger action.
"It does show that people in the world expect their governments to take strong action as as matter of responsibility, and hope they will work with other governments to take action," he told BBC News.
"It is not a story which says 'I will do something only if others do'."
The survey is published just five days before this year's United Nations climate conference opens in the Polish city of Poznan.
More than money
The survey revealed that 43% of people questioned put climate change ahead of the world's financial instability as an issue of current concern, even though the surveys ran in the turbulent months of September and October.
"Despite the fact this research took place at a time when the global financial crisis was taking off, climate change was very much in the minds of the general public as an issue of concern," commented Francis Sullivan, HSBC's environmental advisor and a former director of conservation with the environment group WWF.
However, the numbers saying they would alter their lifestyles to reduce climate change had fallen in the year between the previous survey, in 2007, and this one.
This still left sizeable majorities in most of the developing countries polled - Brazil, India, Malaysia and Mexico - saying they were willing to make changes.
In China it was just under half, as it was in the industrialised countries taking part - Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US.
The 2007 poll, conducted in a subset of these countries, had shown a larger proportion of people saying they would spend extra time or money to curb climate change.
The proportion who said they "heard a lot about" the issue also fell between 2007 and 2008, perhaps indicating a decline in media reporting. Last year saw blanket coverage of the series of reports put out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Overall, the findings broadly agree with a survey commissioned by the BBC last year, which found that two-thirds of people polled in 21 countries backed urgent action on climate change.
The HSBC Climate Confidence Monitor polled 1,000 people in each of the countries mentioned above, and in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
Surveys call for Unity to Combat Climate Change
UNEP website 27 Nov 08;
Nairobi/Kenya, 27 November 2008 - The environment remains a top concern for people around the world despite the financial crisis, according to a global poll by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF.
The new poll, released on 26 November, finds that 43 per cent see climate change as a bigger problem than the economy.
The survey confirms the findings of a UNEP poll released in October that showed that nearly 90 per cent of young people across the globe think world leaders should do "whatever it takes" to tackle climate change.
As representatives around the world prepare to gather in Poland next week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the two surveys are an unequivocal call from people around the world for unity in the fight against climate change.
The Climate Partnership poll interviewed 12,000 people in total: 1,000 people each in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Britain and the United States.
Three-quarters of those polled said they want their countries to reduce their "fair share" of greenhouse gas emissions, and a further 55 per cent of people believed their government should invest in renewable energy.
In the USA, 72 per cent of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries. In China, 62 per cent of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries and only 4 per cent said their country's emissions should be allowed to increase.
People in emerging markets also want their governments to be generous with emission cuts, with only 4 per cent believing that their country's emissions should be allowed to increase to enable their economies to grow. In Mexico and Brazil, over 80 per cent of people want to cut emissions by their 'fair share' or more - as high a level as in developed markets.
Nicholas Stern, the author of the Stern report and an advisor to HSBC, said the research "demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change".
"The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this," he added.
The HSBC survey strongly echoes UNEP's own survey of young people's views on climate change, in which a majority of 12 to 18 year olds in Brazil, Russia, South Africa and the United States said "it is necessary to take major steps starting very soon" to fight climate change.
Young people in South Africa, the United States and Brazil were particularly critical of world leaders' efforts to address climate change, with seven in ten or more across these three countries saying world leaders are not doing enough (82 per cent in South Africa; 79 per cent in the United States; and 73 per cent in Brazil).
UNEP commissioned the youth survey as part of the launch of the UNite to Combat Climate Change campaign, which supports the call for a definitive agreement on climate change at the Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009.
