US, China least concerned about climate

“Americans and Chinese, whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions, are among the least concerned”, the Pew Research Center’s poll said on Thursday.

But a few experts like Elina Bardram of the European Commission said viewpoints like that need to change in order for a climate change plan to work. In Asia, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam are among the most concerned about the effects of climate change with 76 percent, 72 percent, and 69 percent of respondents respectively stating they agree that “Global climate change is a very serious problem”.

“It’s a very good step but it is not enough”, UN Climate Change Secretariat Christiana Figures said during a presentation of the report in Bonn.

“But such broad, general support masks significant partisan differences”, said Bruce Stokes, Director of Global Economic Attitudes.

As the impacts of climate change worsen around the planet, “national interests are overriding old interests”, says Morgan, and negotiating alliances are changing.

She stressed that the ones who have contributed the least to global warming were the ones who will suffer the most from its harmful effects.

“Moreover, a median of 78 percent support the idea of their country limiting greenhouse gas emissions as part of an global agreement in Paris”.

The latest report is based upon surveys of over 45,000 adults in over 40 countries.

China is the largest Carbon dioxide emitter, belching out almost 10.3 kilotons of Carbon dioxide, followed by the United States, which emits half as much. Fears of drought are particularly prevalent in Latin America and Africa. Reserving the right to adjust the country’s target adds an “unusually high level” of uncertainty to Argentina’s contribution to climate change, CAT said. [Neal’s Yard] is busy planning projects and meeting with our suppliers to help adaptation to climate change. But Mr Adow warned that to get over the finish line richer countries needed to deliver the much anticipated climate finance.

However, the Solomon Islands and Benin, the two countries at particular risk from rising sea levels, expressed their concerns that negotiations were not yet ambitious enough.

The survey found partisan differences between conservative and left-wing views of climate change in several countries – and the starkest differences in the United States. This compares with 57% of Liberals. Similarly, while 65% of Liberals back government action to curb emissions, that share is far smaller than the 88% of Labor backers and 98% of Greens who concur. Nearly 200 governments agreed in 2010 to limit warming to two degrees above what it was in the pre-industrial era. The results are being released as nations head for Paris to broker a CO2-reduction treaty.

Only 41 percent of Americans believe that climate change is harming them “now” and only 30 percent think it harms them personally.

The findings are here.