Global warming searches up

Searches for green topics are on the rise, according to figures released by internet monitoring company Hitwise.

UK searches for "global warming" have increased by 22 per cent over the last two years, though at times when the subject is in the news - such as February when the Stern report was published - search numbers rocketed.

Last week's announcement of a government website that allowed you to work out your carbon emmissions saw searches for "carbon calculator" increase six-fold.

However, most environmental searches in the UK lead to US-based websites, according to Hitwise.

"Google, which accounts for 79 per cent of UK searches, largely dictates the flow of UK web traffic and this is reflected by the similar sites visited after searching for "global warming" in the US and UK", said Heather Hopkins, vice president of Research for Hitwise UK.

Only two UK websites, the BBC and the Royal Society, appeared among the top 25 websites receiving visits from searches for "global warming" last week, according to Hitwise.

"This poses a serious challenge to UK organisations and government agencies seeking to influence public opinion," said Hopkins.

www.hitwise.com

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