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SINGAPORE—Filipinos
are among the world’s leaders in contemplating serious
changes to their lifestyles to address climate change,
according to a recent global public-opinion survey
presented Tuesday to more than 1,000 business leaders
from over 30 countries attending the Business for the
Environment Global Summit 2008.
The
global poll of 22,182 people in 21 countries worldwide,
including 1,000 Filipinos in urban areas, suggests that
citizens in general—including those in the US and China,
the world’s biggest polluters—are more prepared than
their governments to support tough measures.
Doug
Miller, president of GlobeScan Inc., the global polling
company that conducted the survey on behalf of the
BBC-World Service, presented the highlights of the
survey conducted between May 29 to
June 26, 2007.
“The
people in developing countries, as well as in the
developed world, are ready to take action and to make
significant lifestyle changes to help prevent climate
change. It is now up to the government leaders and the
business sectors alike whether to support climate action
or not,” Miller said during his presentation.
The poll
found that an overwhelming 95 percent of Filipinos are
eager to step up and ready to make significant changes
in lifestyle to prevent global warming. Canadians came
second with 91 percent of those interviewed, while the
Russians were last at 43 percent.
Overall,
83 percent of respondents agreed that individuals would
definitely or probably have to make lifestyle changes to
reduce the amount of climate-changing gases they
produce.
Putting
the spotlight on the business sector, GlobeScan, in
support of the United Nations and the Business for
Environment Summit, has announced that it started this
April 2008 a new global climate-change survey, this time
involving the world’s business leaders, Miller said.
“We are
conducting a survey of business leaders around the world
asking them a series of questions mainly related to
climate change,” Miller told the BusinessMirror.”
“We
would like to know what it’s like inside their business
around this issue, like on how serious is it compared to
other things that they are concerned about; what they
are doing about it and how they are working in terms of
their governance.”
Miller
said the survey will be released in June 2008.
He
shared with the BusinessMirror initial findings
conducted on about 140 business leaders. The early
result showed that most companies, or 44 percent, “value
the engagement of business sector to their respective
governments.”
“What
the business sector most misses is a clear government
policy direction to know what their boundary conditions
are so that they can make their business decision, play
a role in working with their governments to put forward
appropriate goal settings and legislation,” Miller
explained.
Most
companies, he added, are also actively working on the
climate-change issues mainly from the point of view of
getting their management systems in place like having
sustainable energy, clean water and waste management
within the company.
“The
business sector is so important in our fight against
climate change. They need to act now, reflect on the
challenges and propose solutions for a better ‘green’
economy,” Miller said.
As for
the lifestyle survey, Globe- Scan interviewed, besides
Filipinos, respondents across the United Kingdom,
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, France,
Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico,
Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the
United States.
“The
survey shows that Filipinos are very concerned about
climate change,” Miller told the BusinessMirror. “Like
everyone around the world concerned, people in the
Philippines are much more ready to endure their share of
the burden than most politicians, and that they are
really ready to play their part in the solutions.”
Miller
believes people are mainly driven by erratic weather
patterns that scare them, and that “humans are making a
real mess of things.” This is clearly significant in
countries like the Philippines and Indonesia and their
neighbors in the region, Miller adds.
The
survey showed that more than 65 percent of the people
around the world say that governments, businesses and
everyone else “need to take major steps very soon” to
tackle climate change; 25 percent felt “modest steps”
would do; and only 6 percent said no steps were
necessary.
On the
question, “if technological change would solve the
climate change problem without the need for any
lifestyle change,” 58 percent of the respondents said
“yes” and 36 percent said “no.”
The
survey found that in
South Korea,
India and China, 48 percent of those surveyed had
avoided products or brands for environmental reasons in
the recent past.
In 18 of
the 21 countries polled, the more popular argument is
that less wealthy countries should limit emissions. Just
three countries, Egypt (53 percent), Nigeria (50
percent) and Italy (49 percent), opt for the position
that less wealthy countries should not be expected to
limit emissions.
Those
favoring limits on the emissions of less wealthy
countries include China (68 percent) and a plurality of
Indians (33 percent to 24 percent) though many Indians
(43 percent) do not have an opinion. This is also the
dominant view in Brazil (63 percent), Indonesia (54
percent), Kenya (64 percent), Mexico (75 percent), the
Philippines (49 percent) and Turkey (41 percent). |
