(h/t to Jacob) Great Britain is a decade ahead of Canada in the global warming debate and what's happening there today is instructive for us.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair was a major booster of the Kyoto Accord.

A 2006 report his Labour government commissioned from British economist Sir Nicholas Stern, predicting world-wide environmental and financial disaster if immediate steps weren't taken to combat global warming, is the Holy Grail of the international green movement.

Initially, Great Britain thought it would have a relatively easy time implementing Kyoto because of its "dash for gas" starting in the 1980s, during which coal-fired energy plants were replaced by natural gas facilities.

While this initiative was unrelated to Kyoto, natural gas emits the least amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) of the major fossil fuels, coal the most.

Largely because of that, Britain's Labour government, unlike our Conservative one, says it's on track to meet its Kyoto targets for 2008-2012.

Further, the British pay substantially more for gasoline than we do and while road tolls are controversial in Canada, London, England, has had one since 2003.

Anyone driving into central London pays a daily toll of eight pounds (about $15.85 Canadian).

British taxpayers were among the earliest conscripts into the war on global warming, long before Canada, where Liberal Leader St‚phane Dion is only now talking about pricing carbon (i.e. a carbon tax) if he wins the next election.

However, when you examine the views of the British people today, the news isn't good for climate hysterics or Britain's Labour government, now led by Gordon Brown, which suffered heavy losses in recent local elections.

A survey last month of 2,002 British adults by the respected polling firm Opinium Research found:

• 72 per cent are unwilling to pay higher taxes to fight climate change;
• 67 per cent believe the government's green agenda is simply a ploy to raise taxes.

As Opinium's head of research, Mark Hodson, described the findings in the Daily Mail and Independent newspapers: "Britain appears to be feeling increasingly negative about being more carbon neutral. We are questioning the truth behind being greener and many feel the government is creating a green fear for monetary gain."

People still care about the environment - 94 per cent said they are personally trying to behave more responsibly.

But after years of rising "green" taxes for roads, fuel and air travel, plus reduced garbage collection and fines for putting out too much rubbish, people have grown suspicious of government motives, even as politicians piously lecture them much more must be done.

Despite skyrocketing energy prices, critics note people haven't been given realistic ways to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions to save money.

Renewable energy remains scarce and expensive.

Britain's Daily Express this week reported a new government study concludes Labour's latest round of green initiatives alone will cost the average British family more than 3,000 pounds (about $5,945 Cdn), trying to reach a long-term GHG reduction target of 60 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, which many experts now believe is "unachievable."

Neil O'Brien, director of the think tank Open Europe, said British politicians "incredibly ... don't seem to have realized" the enormous financial cost to British families when they signed on to reducing GHG.

Of course, in Canada, opposition politicians promise carbon taxes will be "revenue neutral" and ensure prosperity.

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