Asians express a strong desire for actions for their own governments to lead the fight against climate change. According to a new poll, 79% of Asians want their own governments to take action and show leadership to reduce the risk from climate change. This figure is 71% of people for China and Hong Kong.

"The UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December is massively important for preventing disastrous climate change and under the spotlight internationally. Asians express a strong desire for action from their own government to act. As Asia's World City, Hong Kong should also present a plan to lead Hong Kong to join the international force to tackle climate change. A carbon reduction target is urgently required to guide government and other sectors. We need to know from the HKSAR government: What is your plan?" said Dr William Yu, Head of Climate Programme, WWF Hong Kong.

Prentice Koo, Campaigner, Greenpeace China added, "The government's climate consultancy report is expected to be finished by in October. It has to be released as soon as possible and the government then should immediately launch public consultation. We also expect the government to take the lead and take up more responsibility."

People in developing Asia pin their hopes for a new global climate treaty mainly on one man: Barack Obama. 53% of Asians believe an agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December depends on leadership by the US President, followed by Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (15%) and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (14%) who are seen as crucial leaders especially by their own constituencies.

Those polled believe that countries with the biggest leadership potential are also among the most difficult to get into any agreement in Copenhagen, surprisingly highlighting China above all others (43%), an advocate of developing country interests as a member of the G77 group. Other countries seen as challenging are the US (38%), India (33%), Japan (25%), Russia (24%), South Africa (20%), Brazil (18%), UK (17%), Germany (16%), Mexico (15%), France (14%) and Canada (10%).

The poll was commissioned by WWF, Greenpeace South East Asia and 350.org to support the Tcktcktck campaign, an alliance of major international NGOs. 6,063 people from five different countries were polled in August 2009. People in China (including Hong Kong), India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand were asked about their views on climate change and the international negotiations aimed at agreeing a new global climate treaty in Copenhagen this December.

44% of the Hong Kong respondents believe that reducing GHG emissions within the energy sector should be the first priority to address climate change in Hong Kong. "To respond to Hong Kong people's desire, there is urgency to lay down a long-term energy policy roadmap and speed up the conversion to clean energy locally. The proportion of renewable energy in the total energy mix must be increased to 5 -10% in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions," added Dr. Yu.

The poll was released ahead of the Major Economies Forum in Washington (17-18 Sept), the Ban-ki Moon Leaders Summit on Climate Change and the UN General Assembly in New York (21-22 Sept) , and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh (24-25 Sept). UN climate talks will resume in Bangkok on 28 September, and progress in Bangkok will largely depend on outcomes of the meetings in the US.

Editor's Notes:

• A regional summary report with case studies for China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand including graphs with regional and country data can be found at: http://www.panda.org/climate/press
• The share of male and female participants in the poll was almost even, varying between 47% and 53% per group depending on the country.
• Those polled were between the ages of 15 and 64, with a majority having either secondary education levels or graduated from a university.
• The margin of error is 1.3% for a sample size of 6000, at 95 percent confidence interval.