Climate Change Skepticism Is Highest In Japan, Britain and U.S., Poll Finds

While nine out of 10 people surveyed in a recent Ipsos poll "believe that the climate has changed significantly in the past 20 years," those polled in Japan, Britain and the U.S. had the highest rates of climate change skepticism.

In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Richard Muller,
 left, and his daughter, Elizabeth Muller, right, pose
 with a map from their study on climate at their home in
 Berkeley, Calif. The California physicist was doubtful
of what climate scientists have been saying - until
he did his own research, partly funded by climate
change skeptics. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Commissioned by the AXA Group, an international insurance firm, agreement on whether climate change has been scientifically proven was the lowest in Japan at 58 percent, followed by Britain at 63 percent and the U.S. at 65 percent.

Conversely, 95 percent of those polled in Indonesia agreed that climate change is scientifically proven. Hong Kong and Turkey also had relatively high rates of agreement at 89 and 86 percent, respectively.

The results of the online poll, which surveyed 13,492 adults in 13 countries from July 5 to August 6, are similar to those of a smaller Angus Reid Public Opinion survey released earlier this year. The online Angus Reid poll found that climate change skepticism is higher in U.S. and Britain than Canada, with 21 percent of Americans and 22 percent of Brits responding that climate change is "a theory that has not yet been proven."

-  Huffingtonpost.com