This article by GlobeScan Chairman, Doug Miller originally appeared on GreenBiz.com, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 12 April 2013 – One challenge U.S. companies face in dealing with global issues is the significant difference that sometimes exists between public opinion in America and in the rest of the world. Nowhere has the difference in perspective and opinion been more evident than in concern over climate change. For much of the decade between 1995 to 2005, Americans were significantly less concerned … “How Companies and Weather May Sway Public Opinion on Climate”
Download the Press Release (PDF) 25 February 2013 – Environmental concerns among citizens around the world have been falling since 2009 and have now reached twenty-year lows, according to a multi-country GlobeScan poll. The findings are drawn from the GlobeScan Radar annual tracking poll of citizens across 22 countries. A total of 22,812 people were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone during the second half of 2012. Twelve of these countries have been regularly polled on environmental issues since 1992. Asked how … “Environmental Concerns “At Record Lows”: Global Poll”
This article by Sam Mountford was originally published on GreenBiz.com Feb 7 2013, as part of our Proof Points blog series. 7 February 2013 – Environmental concern among the global public is on the wane across a whole range of issues, GlobeScan’s most recent polling finds. But, with no sign that the problems facing the planet are any less severe – quite the reverse – how do we explain this increase in apathy? The trend is certainly stark. GlobeScan tracks public concern on six … “Why We’re Turned Off and Tuned Out to Environmental Crises”
Findings from a new public opinion poll conducted as part of The Regeneration Roadmap (a joint project by GlobeScan and SustainAbility)
As high-level talks at the Doha Climate Conference got underway this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned humanity was locked in a “race against time” against global warming. However, GlobeScan’s most recent opinion polling shows that the global public’s concern about the climate continues to fall sharply. After rising for much of the last decade, the proportion of people describing climate change as a “very serious” issue dropped in the wake of the failed 2009 Copenhagen intergovernmental summit, and … “As Doha conference gets underway, climate concern falling sharply”
As Hurricane Sandy slammed into the eastern seaboard of North America, the US presidential contest was entering its home stretch. The material damage caused cannot be denied, but analysts have also occupied themselves with two further questions: most immediately, how might Sandy affect the election and, more widely, does the explanation for Sandy’s unusual strength lie in climate change? Looking back at trends in GlobeScan’s public opinion polling after Katrina provides us with some interesting reflections on both of these … “Sandy: In the shadow of Katrina”
Sustainability seems to have been largely absent from the conversation in the 2012 US Presidential campaign. Apart from a couple of fleeting moments when the spotlight has fallen on the issue—an argument between the candidates over energy policy in the second debate, and a joke about the President promising to stem the tide of the rising oceans by Mitt Romney in his convention speech—the American public could be forgiven for thinking that neither candidate cares much about sustainability issues. However, … “President Obama Viewed as the Candidate Most Likely to Fast-Forward Sustainability”
As the Durban UN summit struggles to reach an agreement that will keep climate change within acceptable limits over the next decades, GlobeScan tracking reveals that the public in much of the world is losing faith that there will be a technological solution to the problems posed by a changing climate.
The optimism that developing nations, in particular, felt that the same technological innovation that was helping to drive strong economic growth in their countries would also solve climate change with minimal changes to human behavior, appears to have waned significantly, with major falls in confidence in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya, and Pakistan.
These falls are mirrored in developed economies such as the UK, USA, and Spain, which were already more pessimistic that painful lifestyle adjustments could be averted in tackling climate change. If well-founded, this pessimism only underlines how critical it is that governments achieve a strong emissions-reduction agreement in Durban.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2011
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
GlobeScan’s tracking survey reveals that public concern about climate change has been volatile since the 2009 Copenhagen summit’s failure to agree to a global deal to reduce carbon emissions—but concern continues to be higher in developing than in developed countries.
This reflects our 2010 Greendex survey of 17 countries, where British, Swedish, German, and American respondents showed the lowest levels of agreement with the proposition “global warming will worsen my way of life within my own lifetime,” while Brazilian, Indian, and Chinese respondents showed high levels of agreement. This may reflect the greater potential for catastrophic events such as natural disasters to impact people’s lives in developing nations.
This decline in concern about climate change may result from increasing feelings of urgency about other social and economic issues overshadowing long-term concerns about the environment. In 2011, corruption, extreme poverty, the rising cost of food and energy, and terrorism emerge as greater preoccupations on a global level than climate change.
Particular factors that are likely to be behind the decline in the perceived seriousness of climate change in developed countries between 2000 and 2003—and again in 2010—are the impact of the September 11 attacks, the subsequent conflicts in the Middle East, and the global economic downturn. The widely publicized “Climategate” controversy is also likely to have been a factor.
France, Japan, and the USA have seen continuing decreases in the perceived seriousness of climate change over the past three years. Under the influence of the ongoing economic slowdown—and of the Fukushima disaster—climate change has lost attention in some major economies, and is slow to regain it.
Over the past year, however, climate change has recovered its position as an issue of serious concern in some developed and developing countries, particularly in Ecuador, Peru, Turkey, and Russia.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2011
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)
We regularly track the global public’s view of whether attempts to cut emissions of climate changing gases risk significantly damaging the economy. In most countries surveyed, opinion is polarized on this issue —suggesting that finding politically viable ways to reduce emissions will remain a daunting challenge.
In Australia, plans to impose a tax on carbon emissions for the worst polluters have met with plenty of opposition; currently only the EU and New Zealand have managed to introduce a national tax on carbon. In Europe, slight majorities tend to disagree that action on climate change will damage economies; majorities also held this view in Australia, Canada, China, and Japan when polling was carried out last year.
However, people in several countries, including the USA, the UK, Brazil, Japan, and Canada, were becoming less likely to think that greenhouse gas emission cuts would damage the economy, suggesting the developed-world public may be becoming more receptive to mitigating initiatives as the immediate economic crisis has receded. American views have shifted dramatically over the course of the recession, with a spike in 2009 in the proportion worried about the effect on the economy.
A number of emerging economies, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kenya, have seen the reverse trend with a recent sharp increase in concern about the potential economic harm of measures to address climate change. This suggests that the issue will remain politically potent as the rapid growth in many of these economies continues.
Finding from the GlobeScan Radar, Wave 2, 2010
For more information on this finding, please contact Sam Mountford (Read Bio)