As world delegates assemble in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 2024 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, the perceptions of Canadians and Americans on environmental issues have become more polarized.

In our two-country survey, just over three in 10 Canadians (61 per cent, up one point since July 2023) say global warming is a fact and is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities. Fewer Canadians either look at climate change as a fact caused by natural changes (25 per cent, down two points) or as a theory that has not yet been proven (10 per cent, up two points). It is remarkable that after 16 months of relentless focus on the carbon tax on the part of the Conservative Party, the views of Canadians on its overarching theme have barely moved.

The situation is different in the United States as residents experience the last weeks of the Biden administration. Just over half of Americans (51 per cent, down nine points since August 2022) think climate change is a fact and is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities. There is no change in the proportion of residents of the United States who call........

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