By Ceri Jones, climate lead at Media Trust.
Public concern for the climate crisis reached new heights last year. Thanks to talking points like COP26 and box office hit Don’t Look Up, engagement with the climate movement is growing fast across all demographics.
But with the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issuing another warning letter to the world, further dramatic acceleration of action and a willingness to embrace change is necessary if we are to act in time.
What should those working in this field be doing to ready audiences for the road ahead? How can we inspire people to welcome the green changes needed to reach net-zero?
My organisation, Media Trust, supports environmental and climate charities to extend the power, reach and impact of their communications. We recently canvassed experts from the UK’s environmental and media sector to discuss what charities should be doing to inspire audiences. From climate-conscious media organisations like Sky, ITV, and MG OMD, to charities such as the WWF and grassroots organisations like the Black Environment Network, these leaders discuss learnings from COP26 and how we can translate awareness into action.
Talk about the power of individual actions to reduce consumption
We know we won’t meet targets to slash emissions unless we start consuming less and more consciously. Yet consumption – particularly in relation to food and fashion – hardly featured in the dialogue at Glasgow’s COP26.
Zero Waste Scotland says we need to help consumers understand the negative environmental impacts of the services and products they buy, and the supply chains they rely on, while empowering them to make positive choices. Carbon footprint calculators or product journey tools are creative ways to draw in audiences, before promoting meaningful lifestyle changes they can get on board with.
Use diverse human-centred stories
Navigating the complexity of climate change is a challenge for the experts, let alone the rest of the population. When we bring stories to audiences, they need to be authentic and jargon-free, and connect real people to climate action.
It’s also crucial that these stories, which often depict a narrow set of people, are more inclusive. To help with this, Media Trust has published a resource for charities on understanding and adopting key principles for diverse climate storytelling.
Ensure comms considers social and economic realities
This is a tough year for millions of people in the UK, with rising inflation and energy prices contributing to a cost-of-living crisis. With COP26 now behind us, we have the twin challenge of making sure climate action stays on the agenda, while also ensuring it’s still a relevant conversation for those struggling financially.
Fortunately, only a small fraction of the public sees removing green levies from energy bills as the answer, suggesting that climate advocates can still sustain support for climate policies during hard times. Showing how climate responses address intersectional issues like food insecurity can help bring relevance to campaigns. Look out for Climate Outreach’s guide on considering ‘fairness’ in comms, set to be published this Spring.
Media and third sector collaboration
From TV soaps to documentaries, broadcasters and commissioners are increasingly seeing climate awareness as a high priority and have committed to using their content to inform, shift and inspire environmentally conscious behaviours.
This presents a unique opportunity for environmental charities looking to influence climate media discourse – both in the press and on-screen. There are examples of these partnerships already forming, but there is potential for far greater collaboration. This is a challenging time for the climate movement but with thoughtful communications, creativity, and collaboration with a wide range of partners, we can sustain public backing for the broad level of change needed.
