Starting next Monday, France will chair and host the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11). The conference objective is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world.

People worldwide support a global emissions agreement. A median of 78% of people surveyed across 40 nations say they support their country signing an international agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions, although only a global median of just 54% consider climate change to be a very serious problem.

Interestingly, knowledge of science makes little difference to people’s beliefs about climate change. People’s views on climate change go hand in hand with politics or religion. This is especially true in the U.S where, for example, Republicans with a good knowledge of science are more sceptical about global warming than less knowledgeable Republicans.

Even more interesting, a country’s carbon emissions are correlated with concerns about global climate change. In nations with high levels of carbon emissions per capita, publics are less likely to express strong worries about climate change. The U.S., with the highest per-capita carbon emissions of the nations surveyed, is among the least concerned about climate change and its potential impact. Publics in Africa, Latin America and Asia, many of which have very low emissions per capita, are frequently the most concerned about the negative effects of climate change.

Good luck, and let us see how high the water mark.

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Featured Image: United Nations Conference On Climate Change, “10 Photos of a Changing World”