Only a quarter concerned about climate change in UK

18.04.11

Just 25% of Britons believe climate change is one of the most important environmental issues facing their country today, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI this week.

In Asian countries like India, South Korea and Japan, twice as many of those polled consider climate change to be one of the most important environmental issues.

According to Professor Corrine Le Quere, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, this apparent ambivalence is down to Britons’ lack of contact with climatic events, and last year’s notoriously cold winter.

She said:

‘People tend to associate these events on a very short term and this can be a problem for climate policy. The actions that happen today will have impacts in 20 or 30 years and not just regionally, but worldwide.’

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