A survey by HSBC showed that Chinese respondents were the most prepared in the world to make a personal sacrifice to tackle climate change.

About 56 percent of Chinese respondents to the survey said they were prepared to make a personal commitment to change their lifestyle to fight climate change, according to HSBC.

Compared with other countries and regions surveyed, respondents in mainland China were more confident that their government was doing what they thought it should in tackling climate change, HSBC said.

When asked who should be playing a major role in helping reduce climate change, 53 percent of Chinese respondents selected government, and 51 percent believed the government was already playing this role.

The HSBC Climate Confidence Monitor polled a total of 12,000 respondents in 12 economies. It found 43 percent of people chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. And 77 percent of people wanted their government to cut carbon by their national "fair share" or more to allow less developed economies to grow.

(Shanghai Daily November 28, 2008)