According to a new poll by GlobeScan , public support for a strong global deal on climate has dropped , as only 10 out of 20 countries have a majority that are confident their governments will set ambitious targets at the global climate conference in Paris next week . In comparison , a similar poll undertaken before the last climate conference in Copenhagen 2009 , eight countries had a majority public vote in favour of ambitious targets . Surprisingly , less than half of those surveyed believed that climate change was a " very serious " issue , compared with 63 % in the 2009 poll . Countries involved in the survey included major climate emitters such as USA , China , India , Indonesia and Brazil . However , Lionel Bellier , a GlobeScan spokesman , explained the result were " not an abrupt change of views , the trend seems to be now towards a softer approach . " Former UN Executive Secretary , Yvo de Boer , also said the findings follow from what was a significant disappointment at the last climate conference , and since then , the financial crisis is likely to have shifted public opinion toward more direct economic concerns .
According to a new poll by GlobeScan, public support for a strong global deal on climate has dropped, as only four out of 20 countries have a majority that are confident their governments will set ambitious targets at the global climate conference in Paris next week. In comparison, a similar poll undertaken before the last climate conference in Copenhagen 2009, eight countries had a majority public vote in favour of ambitious targets. Surprisingly, less than half of those surveyed felt that climate change was a "very serious" issue, compared with 63% in the 2009 poll. Countries involved in the survey included major carbon emitters such as USA, China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. However, Lionel Bellier, a GlobeScan spokesman, explained the result were "not an abrupt change of views, the trend seems to be now towards a softer approach." Former UN Executive Secretary, Yvo de Boer, also said the findings follow from what was a significant disappointment at the last climate conference, and since then, the financial crisis is likely to have shifted public focus toward more direct economic concerns.