India, China and the US are the biggest climate sceptics despite being three of the world’s biggest producers of emissions, according to a new survey conducted across 142 countries.
Climate change is widely understood as offering an existential threat to life on earth (sic), however, a new survey conducted by global charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation reveals worrying levels of scepticism.
The survey which involved over 150,000 people from 142 different countries revealed that only 41% of people see climate change as ‘a very serious threat to their country,’ with 28% ‘somewhat concerned’ and 13% believing it is ‘no threat at all.’
The researchers found that the highest levels of scepticism occur in the world’s biggest producers of emissions, with 21% of those living in the US listing it as ‘no threat at all,’ alongside 19% in India and 30% in China.
In comparison, people in Southern Europe and Latin America are the most likely to see climate change as a serious threat.
The researchers found that education played a large role in shaping attitudes towards the climate change, people with 16 or more years of education were more likely than those with 8 years of education to say climate change is a ‘very serious’ threat.