People Willing To Sacrifice To Address Climate Change
Most people are willing to make personal sacrifices in order to address climate change, according to a new BBC World Service study. The study polled more than 22,000 people in 21 countries.
A significant majority (83%) of all those surveyed indicated that it would be necessary for them to make changes in their lifestyle to reduce emissions that are causing climate change. Meanwhile 61% acknowledge that increases in energy costs will be needed to reduce energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.
The study notes that support for higher energy taxes increases substantially (from 50% to 77%) when the taxes are earmarked specifically for promoting energy efficiency or development of cleaner fuels. Approval for such targeted taxes was supported by a majority in all 21 countries surveyed.
Interestingly, both the United States and China, among the largest producers of carbon emissions, show strong support for such initiatives.
Urban Chinese are among those most ready to change their lifestyle (86%), to see the cost of energy go up (83%) and to pay higher taxes on coal and oil (85%).
A majority of those surveyed in 20 of the 21 countries included in the study support the need to increase the cost of fuels which cause greenhouse gases. The only exception to this was Nigeria, where oil accounts for 20% of GDP and 65% of budgetary revenues.
The full report, including a copy of the survey questions are available on the World Public Opinion site.
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