More than 70 percent of Britons care more about long-term climate change effects than the implications of how the UK will leave the European Union, and believe that addressing global warming should be a top priority for the new prime minister, a new poll showed on Friday.
The poll, commissioned by British charity Christian Aid to ComRes interviewed 2,072 adults in the UK online between July 19 and 21. The results of the poll were published two days after Boris Johnson became the UK's new prime minister and a day after the UK experienced its second-hottest day on record, with temperatures in Cambridge hitting 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit)-only the second time Britain has hit more than 100F in its history.
According to the survey commissioned by Christian Aid, some 71 percent of people polled agree that climate change will be more important than Brexit, while 61 percent don't think the UK government is doing enough to prioritize combating climate change.
"As Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets his feet under the table at Number 10, there are a large number of urgent priorities. However, it's clear that beyond the present political turmoil, UK adults know there is a bigger crisis which is potentially catastrophic for the whole of humanity - particularly some of the world's poorest people, who are more vulnerable to the effects of this climate emergency," said Laura Taylor, director of advocacy for Christian Aid.
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"We need a rapid and radical shift to reduce emissions in the UK and we need global action for climate justice in which the most vulnerable communities are supported to not only survive but to thrive," Taylor added.
Climate activism in the UK has been on the rise in recent months, with Greenpeace activists blocking a BP exploration rig for weeks in June from going to a drilling site in the North Sea.
At the end of June, the UK became the first major economy in the world to enshrine in a law its target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The new UK prime minister also faces climate emergency protests. Greenpeace UK interrupted Johnson's journey on his way to see the Queen on Wednesday, to highlight that "if there's one thing that worth delaying matters of state over, it's the climate emergency we're in."
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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