Some three-quarters of Australians support action to cut carbon emissions before a global agreement is reached, a new poll by Lowy Institute reveals.

However nearly a third of those surveyed do not want to pay for the cuts.

Lowy Institute spokesman Michael Wesley told ABC News that the poll “reflects a trend that we’ve seen in our polling since 2006, which is a trend where there has been a softening of public concern about global warming.”

“Both sides of politics have seen the numbers soften a little bit, but I think that they can see that there’s an underlying strength in support for doing something about our carbon emissions,” Wesley told ABC.