An online poll of chief executives by Business Climate International found 43 per cent of respondents blamed pollution as the major cause of global warming, while 21 per cent targeted increasing human populations and 14 per cent selected waste.

“The results are quite encouraging in that they show company bosses all over the country already in top gear considering complex issues and their solutions,” website editor Sandy Kaye said.

The executives feared hunger (33 per cent), erratic weather (29 per cent), desertification and drought (both 14 per cent) and flooding (10 per cent) would result from climate change.

Eighty-six per cent said they would not blame an individual country for global warming. The US (14 per cent) was chosen most by those who did.