2nd Floor Science Plaza, 5-3 Yonbancho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0081 Japan
Phone +81-3-5275-0620 Fax +81-3-5275-0871
E-Mail: post@af-info.or.jp
URL: http://www.af-info.or.jp

For Immediate Release
September 10. 2008

The Asahi Glass Foundation Announces Results of the 17th Annual“Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”
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The average time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock advanced further from last year to its furthest point
since the survey started in 1992.
Close to 70 percent cited global warming as the main environmental concern in considering their response on theEnvironmental Doomsday Clock.
Seventy percent of the respondents stated that the role the Kyoto Protocol served and the achievements of COP13“should be commended.”More than 60 percent of respondents from the developed regions indicated the tendency towards the introductionof carbon taxes, and in contrast, 60 percent from the developing region indicated “no plans to introduce.”
Respondents stating emissions trading “will be effective” fell below those who stated that it will not be effectivewith such response exceeding 50 percent.
Close to 50 percent responded negatively towards use of bioethanol and biodiesel as renewable energies.
More than 60 percent of respondents support or condone the reliance on nuclear power generation.

The Asahi Glass Foundation (Chairman: Hiromichi Seya) has conducted surveys with environmental experts
around the world each year since 1992. This year, the Foundation received 732 responses from 81 countries; thefollowing are the major findings of the survey. (Please refer to the attached appendix for details on the survey andthis year’s results.)

1. Awareness of the Crisis Facing Human Survival—The Environmental Doomsday Clock• The average time for all respondents was 9:33. This represents a 2-minutes advancement from last year,exhibiting the highest sense of crisis since the survey started.
• The average time for overseas respondents retreated by 2 minutes.

1

•
•

•

The average time for Japanese respondents advanced by 8 minutes from last year to 9:42.
With the exception of respondents from Asia and the Middle East, the average time advanced significantly inall regions. The average time for respondents in United States & Canada entered the 10 o’clock mark,alongside Africa and Oceania which each surpassed the mark last year. (For the details on the Environmental
Doomsday Clock, please refer to page 6 to 8 of this year’s Report.)“Global warming” was most frequently cited at 68 percent as the main environmental concern by respondents
overall in determining the time on the Environmental Doomsday Clock, followed by “water shortage, foodproblems” at 50 percent with an approximately 10 points’ increase from last year.

①22. THE KYOTO PROTOCOL AND POST-2012 APPROACHES
Evaluating the Role of the Kyoto Protocol• Close to 70 percent of the respondents stated that the Kyoto Protocol should be commended, greatly
exceeding those who stated they cannot commend, at 26 percent.
• The region with the highest rate of response stating that it should be commended was Africa, followed byWestern Europe. On the contrary, the lowest rate of response on the same was from the Middle East, followedby United States & Canada.
0%20%Overall

25Japan

27Africa

2940%

60%

80%

44

5

100%

17919

9

Should be commended
424

Unknown45424

Western Europe

United States & Canada54
353

96813134619Cannot be commended
Eastern Europe & former Soviet
Union

3625Middle East

74047181847

Alerted people worldwide about global warming, presented systemic model for future schemes
Not all developed countries participated; but developed countries began implementing reduction goals
Other + Unknown
Lack of participation by few developed countries limited its effectivenessLacks system to promote reduction among high emitting developing countries

Evaluating COP13•

More than 50% of respondents in every region selected “it should be commended,” reaching close to 70
percent for overall respondents.

•The region with the highest percentage of respondents who commended the achievements was Rest of Asia,
at 78%. In contrast, the region with the highest percentage of respondents who stated that COP13 cannot becommended was United States & Canada, at 41%. (For the details on the survey results on the reasons forevaluation and on New Post-2012 Framework, please refer to page 14 to 15 of this year’s Report.)

United States& Canada3

The Status of Carbon Taxes Implementation••

A high percentage ofrespondents from developedregions at 65 percent indicatedawareness of a movement
towards the introduction ofcarbon taxes.
In contrast, only 32 percent ofrespondents in developing
regions made these selections
and those responding “there areno plans to introduce” reached
60 percent.

Effectiveness of Carbon Tax•

Overall, 62% of respondents
indicated that carbon taxes will
be effective in reducing carbon
dioxide emissions, significantlyexceeding the 27% who
selected “not effective.”•For respondents from Western
Europe, the selection of “willbe effective” fell below that of“not effective.” (For the details
on the survey results on carbon
tax and its effectiveness, pleaserefer to page 17 of this year’sReport.)

Effectiveness of Emissions Trading• Overall, 43 percent ofrespondents stated emissions
trading will be effective, falling
below the 53% who selected “noteffective.”• There are more from thedeveloped regions compared tofrom the developing regions for
those responding “not effective.”(For the details on the survey
results on the reasons for its
effectiveness and Important
Factors in Promoting Emissions Trading, please refer to page 19 to 20 of this year’s Report.)4

Limits on Proportion that Emissions Trading, CDM, JI Can Occupy in Reduction Target••

Close to 60
percent responded
that a limit shouldbe placed within
the reduction
target whereemissions tradingand such canoccupy.
As for the upper
limit within thetarget, those
selected “up to20%” and “up to40%” combined,
totaled more than
80 percent.

3. ENERGY PROBLEMS
Promoting the Use of Solar Power andWind Power• Overall, nearly two-thirds ofrespondents indicated strong support.

Bioethanol and Biodiesel•

Approximately 50% responded
negatively, selecting statements
indicating concern for“competing with the foodsupply” and “resulting indeforestation.”(For the details on the survey results on
renewable energies, please refer to page
22 to 24 of this year’s Report.)5

Nuclear Power Generation• Sixty-three percent of respondents overall either supported or condoned the reliance on nuclear powergeneration selecting either “the use of nuclear power generation should be promoted,” “nuclear powergeneration is extremely trustworthy,” or “the current situation should be maintained.” (For the details on thesurvey results on nuclear power generation, please refer to page 26 of this year’s Report.)

4. PROGRESS TOWARD AGENDA 21••

As in previous years, there were no change in the order of categories of items in top five with high responses
indicating progress and vice versa those in bottom five indicating no progress.
Responses indicating progress in the categories of “greenhouse gas prevention measures” increased by 4
points and moved up from number seven to six in the order of those making progress.

Upper stand: 2008,Lower stand: 2007

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5. LIFESTYLE ALTERATION•The most frequently selected obstacle to lifestyle alteration, both overall and in each region, was “while there
is recognition for the magnitude of environmental problems, people find it cumbersome to put things intoaction.”•This year, compared to 10years ago, Japanese respondents
with more than double thepercentage indicated that they “donot pursue a lifestyle based onthrow-away or excessive
consumption,” revealing aheightened awareness towards
environmental problems.

The survey also requested respondents to write comments on any topic related to environmentalproblem. This year 122 comments from 48 countries and 118 domestically from Japan, totaling
240 were received. From among them, 55 comments from 28 countries and 37 domestically fromJapan are listed in the report.
＊Please refer to the report for the full results and details of the survey.

＊The results are also given at the Foundation’s website at www.af-info.or.jp from September 10.

For more information, please contact: Shunichi Samejima

THE ASAHI GLASS FOUNDATION
2nd Floor, Science Plaza, 5-3 Yonbancho Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 102-0081 Japan
Phone +81-3-5275-0620 Fax +81-3-5275-0871
e-mail: post@af-info.or.jp URL: http://www.af-info.or.jp
7Appendixz About the “Questionnaire on Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind”
Since 1992, the Asahi Glass Foundation has conducted a survey each year with experts around the world
who are knowledgeable and are involved in environmental issues, including government officials and thosein universities and research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and within industries, aboutvarious endeavors to counter environmental problems. (The survey is supervised by Professor Akio
variousMorishima, Special Research Advisor of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies and board
Morishima,member of the Foundation.) The questionnaires are sent out to approximately 4,000 respondents every Apriland collected by end May. After the responses are compiled, compared, and analyzed, the survey results areannounced in September. The questionnaire has been prepared in both English and Japanese from its
initiation, from last year Chinese and Korean, and from this year Spanish version has been added, now
totaling five languages. The pie chart below shows the affiliation of the questionnaire respondents indescending order. The questionnaire has been sent out to 199 countries (including Japan) since its inception
in 1992, with responses returned from 156 countries.
NPONGO
16%

Governmen t
35%

In dustry
19%

30%

Unive rsity andrese arc h institu teAffiliation of Respondents

AsiaAfrica
Oceania
Western Europe
Eastern Europe &former Soviet Union
Middle East
USA & Canada
Latin America
Total

Number ofcountries
surveyed
2553
1524

Number ofcountries
responded2343
91927
16
236
198

20
11228155z Topics Covered in This Year’s Questionnaire
Repeat topics: “Awareness of the Crisis Facing Human Survival—The Environmental Doomsday Clock,”
Progress Toward “Agenda 21”
Main focus of this year’s questionnaire: global warming, energy problems and lifestyle alterationz Facts about This Year’s Questionnaire
Survey period: Questionnaires were sent out in April 2008 with a return deadline of May 2008.
Questionnaire respondent pool: Environmental experts selected from members of government organizations,academic and research institutions, NGOs, and corporations (based on the Asahi Glass Foundation database).
Questionnaires mailed: 4,369
Questionnaires returned: 732
Response rate: 16.8%
Breakdown of respondents by region:
Number of responsesJapan314
United States & Canada32
Western Europe
67
Asian Four
68
(South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore)
Developed Regions
481
Rest of Asia
119
Latin America
50
Africa24
Developing Regions
193
Oceania
14
Eastern Europe & former Soviet Union
28
Middle East
15
Others57(Overseas Total)
(418)
Total
732

8

Percent of total
42.9
4.4
9.2
9.3
65.8
16.3
6.8
3.3
26.4
1.9
3.8
2.0
7.7
(57.0)
100.0