PUBLIC WILLING TO PAY EXTRA TO HELP CLIMATE, BUT NOT A LOT!

This article looks at the results of a number of surveys across developed countries to ask if they were willing to pay more for energy to cut emissions of CO2 to avoid a climate catastrophe. The answer was yes, but no more than about 5%. That is the answer given by those who believed there was likely to be a catastrophe. I find it hard to believe that they can really believe it and yet be so reluctant to pay to avoid it. Maybe they told the interviewer that they believed it. That would accord with experiences I have had, in which people are reluctant to admit that they don't believe it, as they think it is somehow wrong to do so. My feeling is that most people do not really believe in the catastrophe, but go along with it to be 'polite', or in other words to avoid controversy. Once people realise that others around them are sceptics then they feel able to 'come out' themselves. However even closet sceptics draw the line at paying substantially more for their energy.