British have low ambitions for climate change
- By Rory Howard
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 7, 2015
Taken ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the survey by Yougov shows the attitudes of European people towards climate change, including what level of measures they think they should take to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions do not exceed 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, what effects global warming will have on individual countries, and even whether human-made climate change exists.
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Data taken from the 1669 participating British people show that 31 percent feel that Britain needs to take a "moderate approach and support only gradual action" in the face of solving global warming, and not "play a leadership role" in setting ambitious targets.
Significantly, data from Americans' answers show that they have a similar view to the British in "playing a leadership role" in setting ambitious targets to address' global warming, with 42 percent of each country's respondents thinking that a leadership role is needed. However, 16 percent of Americans against 9 percent of Brits do not want to make any agreement to address the problem.
Meanwhile, people of other European countries including Denmark, Sweden and Germany, largely feel that their nations should play a leadership role.
The poll delves further to find what Europeans feel are the biggest climate change concerns; this data reveals trends in thinking in different parts of the continent.
European climate change concerns include worries about pollution levels, rising sea levels, loss of wildlife, the impact on future generations, and health risks caused by climate change. Nordic and Scandinavian states are all mostly concerned about the challenges that future generations will face as a result of climate change.
As a whole, the people of Europe are concerned about the loss of wildlife, with it being a top three concern in five out of seven nations.
The surveyed countries are all developed--or post-industrial--nations--as such, none rank health risks caused by climate change as a major concern.
