Tuesday 12 June 2001

Of those surveyed in the UK,

• nearly 80 per cent believed that the government should go ahead with the Kyoto Protocol whether the US is involved or not;


• over 85 per cent thought that leading industrialised countries such as Japan and Canada should break ranks with the US and support the EU in its stance against global warming;


• nearly 90 per cent were in favour of the government doing more to reduce the UK's own global warming pollution.

These results were mirrored by similar figures in Belgium, Italy and Spain and are an important signal to European heads of government, who will be meeting with US President Bush in Gothenburg on 14 June. Climate change is one of the issues they are expected to discuss.

"These are powerful findings which Tony Blair must not ignore when he and the other European leaders sit down with President Bush next week," said Dr Ute Collier, head of WWF's climate change programme. "Mr Blair must use this phenomenal public support as a signal to take a leading role in rallying the international community to finalise the Kyoto climate treaty, with or without the US. It would be an error of historic proportions if they watered down the treaty now in a naïve attempt to accommodate the US."

Since taking office, President Bush has declared his outright opposition to the Kyoto climate treaty, which has been the subject of years of international negotiations. Last month, he approved an energy plan which promotes the use of polluting coal and oil that would mean US emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main global warming gas - would be 50 per cent higher in 2020 than they were in 1990. Although the US is the world's largest emitter of CO2, the Kyoto treaty without the US would still be a strong basis for action, including nations accounting for around 45 per cent of the world's carbon pollution.

"Despite hardly featuring in the election campaign, this poll shows that climate change is an issue which concerns the public," said Dr Collier. "They want to see less talk from politicians and more action to cut the pollution which causes climate change, through much tougher national and international efforts. EU heads of governments should make a formal decision to ratify the Kyoto treaty by the end of this year, irrespective of the United States."

Results of the survey
WWF commissioned the Brussels-based organisation INRA to arrange opinion surveys on climate change in Belgium, Italy, Spain and the UK in late May and early June 2001. Those interviewed were asked three questions and given the options for responding "should", "should not" or "no opinion".

QUESTION ONE: Do you believe that European governments should take the lead against global warming by bringing into force the climate treaty, even if the US doesn't take part at this time?

	UK	Belgium	Italy	Spain
Should (per cent)	79.7	82.0	88.7	88.3
Should not (per cent	6.4	3.9	3.7	2.4
No opinion (per cent)	13.9	14.2	7.6	9.2

QUESTION TWO: Do you think that other industrialised countries like Japan and Canada should join Europe in tackling global warming, rather than side with the United States?

	UK	Belgium	Italy	Spain
Should (per cent)	86.8	78.6	46.7	91.3
Should not (per cent)	3.2	4.7	23.6	1.2
No opinion (per cent)	10	16.7	29.7	7.5

QUESTION THREE: Do you believe that the [UK / Belgian / Italian / Spanish] government should do more to reduce the country's own emissions of global warming pollution?

	UK	Belgium	Italy	Spain
Should (per cent)	89.2	77.6	93.1	95.7
Should not (per cent)	2.8	5.6	3.6	1.7
No opinion (per cent)	8	16.8	3.3	2.6