Thursday 24 March 2005

Two-thirds (68 per cent) of people surveyed also believe that business is to blame for climate change and 59 per cent think industry is not doing enough to tackle the problem. The US government came a close second, with 64 per cent saying that the US was to blame for global warming.

WWF has released the poll as part of a campaign to press politicians to take tougher action to fight global warming, particularly in the run up to the general election.

More than 1 in 3 (38 per cent) people polled believe climate change will cause problems in their lifetime and 69 per cent view it as a real threat.

Andrew Lee, Director of Campaigns for WWF, said: "This poll clearly shows that the public support much stronger action on climate change. British politicians have been guilty of a lot of rhetoric on global warming and very little action.

"We may only have a decade to take action to reduce soaring greenhouse gas emissions. It is vital that the next government makes the right decisions over the next parliamentary term. This poll gives politicians a strong mandate to make the tough decisions needed to reduce pollution from industry, housing and transport. Ignoring this issue is not an option."

WWF will be using the general election period to demand that the next government commits to year on year reductions in carbon dioxide emissions (the main greenhouse gas) in order to achieve their target of a 20 per cent reduction by 2010.

The YouGov poll also showed that 85 per cent of people support more government money going into the development of renewable energy like wind farms. Nearly half of people (46 per cent) would support increasing taxes to subsidise transport fares to encourage people to use their cars less.