For one thing, the focus on building a global deal by melding together the plans most countries have developed to deal with climate change – including all the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases – means the dwindling few countries that still balk at acting on climate change are in an ever-more isolated position. As a new Pew Research Center survey illustrates, there is a global consensus that climate change is a significant challenge.
Advertisement
Europeans are, on average, somewhat less concerned about climate change; still, a median of 54 per cent say it poses a very serious problem.
The poll was taken ahead of key climate talks in Paris this year. The new survey, conducted in person and by telephone with 45,435 people from March through May, found that Latin American and African countries were most concerned about global warming. According to researchers, overall, people in countries with high levels of carbon dioxide emissions per capita tend to express less anxiety about climate change than those in nations with lower per-capita emissions.
Climate scientist Chris Field of the Carnegie Institution thinks that can not do much when it comes to the impacts of climate change.
Hilal Elver, a human rights expert for the United Nations said that as environment factors continue to worsen due to climate change, more and more people will have less access to food.
The latest Pew climate data shows that China is an outlier in terms of attitudes toward climate change in Asia.
We can’t blame climate change for everything.
In the USA, 45 per cent believe global climate change is a very serious problem.
To do this she says that companies need to set a clear strategy in place, which Neal’s Yards has done by setting up a carbon management hierarchy in place to ensure that it is reducing emissions and doing so in the most efficient way: 1.
American Catholics are more likely to be concerned than Protestants, with the findings published as another study suggests that they have been energised on the issue by Pope Francis’s call to action in his landmark encyclical in June and his visit to the United States and address to Congress three months later. And to the extent that Obama’s plan encourages other countries to come to the table with plans of their own, the bargain looks even better, since the emissions cuts other countries implement (and pay for) will lead to further savings for the United States.
Though environmental protection is substantively different from climate change, the Xinhua survey also asked respondents to cite what they’d like to see as a policy focus within environmental protection.
Advertisement
Support for Emissions Limits: Roughly two-thirds (69%) of Americans favor Washington agreeing to a multilateral commitment to limit the burning of pollutants such as coal, natural gas or petroleum. Regionally, the greatest enthusiasm for limiting emissions is in Europe (a median of 87%). Violent conflict linked to water shortages and crop failures in the Middle East could result in military costs and drive up the price of oil.
