7.6B - Environmental Governance
There are differences in willingness to act (USA, EU, China and Russia) to reduce carbon emissions and reach global agreements on environmental issues (A: attitudes and actions of different countries)
Just as the world looks to superpowers to act as 'global policemen', many people would look to the same countries to show leadership on environmental issues such as carbon emissions. Opinion on this issue is very divided, with some superpowers more willing to act to try and reach global agreements than others.
Percentage of people agreeing that climate change is a very serious problem:
- 74% - Latin America
- 61% - Africa
- 54% - Europe (= global median)
- Europe has been the most willing to act to try and reduce emissions since 1990.
- 45% - Asia/Pacific
- 38% - Middle East
Individual countries:
- 45% USA
- In the USA concern is quite low, due to a long-standing 'climate scepticism'
- 18% China
- China's focus is largely on economic development not environmental issues.
The very high level of concern in Africa and Latin America is interesting, since both regions have little impact on global warming as their emissions are low. They could be severely affected by climate change as both have many farmers that depend directly on rainfall for water supply, and crops for food.
There are some reasons to be positive about environmental governance:
- Brazil has drastically slowed forest loss and expanded protected areas since 2005
- China has become the world's biggest investor in renewable wind power and solar power and has cut back on coal burning.
At the Paris climate summit (COP21) in 2015, all countries did agree on emissions reductions. China, still focused on economic development, agreed to reduce emissions after 2030.