Climate change is the hottest topic in environmental politics. The issue had been simmering in the background of public awareness for some years, but Al Gore brought it into the mainstream with his 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth. Since then, politicians have queued up in competition to demonstrate their commitment to "fighting climate change."

There is a small but stubborn group of dissidents who challenge the science, statistics, and conclusions of Climate Change orthodoxy. China's government, however, has opted for a "better safe than sorry" approach, and the country is making a significant effort to promote clean power and reduce emissions - China is now the biggest producer of renewable energy in the world.

A new survey on young Chinese people's understanding of the issue was recently conducted by Sohu.com, China Youth Daily and Science and Technology Daily. The survey is part of the Climate Cool programme jointly delivered by the China Science and Technology Exchange Centre and the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy. The results of the survey indicate that the government's efforts are producing results in terms of awareness of the problem, but in terms of understanding and accepting the solutions there is still further work to be done.

The survey presents a comprehensive picture of how China's young professionals understand climate change. Of those surveyed, 75 percent of respondents believe China is already experiencing the effects of climate change and 50 percent expect to see dramatic changes in their lifetimes.

Encouragingly, too, 79 percent of respondents say they have a responsibility to change behaviour to deal with climate change and 70 percent say they will encourage others to do so.

But in other areas, the survey reveals young people's confusion and a lack of confidence in understanding - only 25 percent feel confident in their understanding of the actions needed to tackle climate change and only 36 percent feel confident in their understanding of the causes.

Also a cause for concern is that while young professionals are willing to take actions that do not affect their standard of living, many are not willing to go any further in the call of duty. 77 percent are willing to buy environmentally-friendly products, 75 percent are willing to reduce waste and 69 percent are willing to recycle more, but only 40 percent are willing to reduce air travel and only 34 percent are willing to eat less meat and are willing to pay more for environment-friendly products.

Overall, the research indicates that young Chinese professionals have a clear awareness of the nature and potential scale of climate change, and while confidence in their understanding of the complexities of the issue is lower, the survey shows respondents have a high willingness to embrace change.

A total of 22,000 young people took part in the survey. It was the largest ever performed on the topic of climate change attitudes among young people in China. Participants contributed to the survey through online channels, interviews and focus groups. All of the respondents were aged between 16 and 35, 97 percent were students or in employment, and 92 percent were educated to university level.

(China.org.cn May 14, 2009)