The effects of man upon climate change are almost universally acknowledged, if not quite. Surprisingly some the countries in which one might automatically assume few deniers, the evidence points the other way.

In a YouGov survey, Norway, Germany and Sweden all have at least 5% of their populations denying any link between human activity and climate warming. These countries are joined by other, more predictable, nations such as the US, UAE, Australia

Countries most convinced climate change is related to human activity:

• Thailand (96%)
• Spain (96%)
• Vietnam (96%)

Countries least convinced climate change is related to human activity:

• US (9% unconvinced)
• Norway (8% unconvinced)
• Saudi Arabia (7% unconvinced)

There is also some denial that change is actually happening at all, strongest in the US (6%), followed by Saudi Arabia and Australia.

It might be noted, that with the exception of Sweden (6% denying a link and 2% disbelieving climate is changing) the most sceptical countries have major fossil fuel economies.

The YouGov study was of 30,000 people in 28 economies, and also addressed the issue of hoe hopeful people were that the worst aspects of climate change could be avoided. Here the most optimistic countries, those thinking current or more radical actions can prevent the worst effects are:

• China (90%)
• Qatar, Vietnam and Indonesia (all scored the same at 89%)

Most pessimistic – that is to say, the highest number of people believing it is too late to avoid climate change affects:

• India (22%)
• France (20%)
• Thailand (18%)

As a comparator, the UK has a higher than median percentage believing in the human impact on climate change (88%) and the median number of pessimists (11%).

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