recently came across the work of a little known NGO named Climate Outreach. Climate Outreach describe themselves as “Europe’s leading experts in climate change communications, bridging the gap between theory and practice”. At the heart of their approach is the importance of ensuring that climate communications appeal to people’s values.
Their project on how to communicate climate change to centre right voters exemplifies their approach. As is well known climate change has become a polarised issue in which your political stance is by far the biggest influence on your attitude to climate change.
Climate Outreach point out that, unfortunately and almost without realising it, the dominant communicators, language and narratives on climate change speak almost exclusively to left wing values. And in so doing alienate conservatives, thus deepening the polarisation.
They argue that tackling climate change is not inherently at odds with conservative values. Far from it. Stewardship, protecting nature, shared responsibility, preserving local communities are all values embedded deeply within conservatism. But the narrative on climate change needs to be reworked so that it speaks to and validates such conservative values. Examples of effective conservative messaging in practice are:
- conserving energy is good old fashioned common sense
- Tackling climate change is the responsibility of us all and action begins at home. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act.
- Tackling climate change will preserve our traditional way of life. It is the sensible thing to do.
This values based approach, akin to that outlined by Rose, was put into practice through the “For the Love of” campaign led by the Climate Coalition in the run up to COP21 in 2015. The campaign sought to link that which people love and are passionate about, with the risks that climate change poses to them. For the London Climate March the campaign produced thousands of heart shaped placards emblazoned with “For the Love of..” and which had a gap for people to write what was important to them. I saw everything ranging from “..building a snowman” to “..a cup of coffee” (personally I put my wife’s name- cheesy I know). Seeing the thousands of placards marching in unison through the streets of London was an inspiring sight that helped to give a positive and motivational message. By linking climate change with everyday issues that people were passionate about the campaign helped climate change go beyond its environmental niche, and overcome the psychological distance that bedevils climate communications.
Obviously there is still a long way to go but I think this values based approach has a key role to play if we are to go beyond the committed few and engage and motivate new audiences of all political persuasions on the importance of climate action.
Sustainablesi 
Great post which I very much enjoyed reading. Thank you for posting!
I agree that a values-based approach is key in communicating the importance of climate change actions.
I have also read Climate Outreach’s guide “Communicating climate change adaptation: a practical guide to values-based communication” and its summary of the principles of values-based climate change communication particularly attracted my attention. file:///C:/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/Communicating-climate-change-adaptation%20(1).pdf
More particularly, I share their view that harnessing the power of social norms and social networks is crucial to promoting climate change actions. Explaining to members of our community that adapting to climate risks is a good idea, is practiced by lots of people and has become the norm is a very powerful tool to change people’s behaviour. The importance of peer-to-peer communication is especially vital at a time when media, energy companies and politicians which are all common sources of climate change information are also all widely distrusted. I have noticed in my own circle of friends and relatives how many of them started taking more green initiatives such as proper recycling, buying an electric car or saving energy as a result of my husband’s and my influence and positive discourse about the importance of protecting the environment. Everybody has the power at their own level to make a difference by taking simple environmentally friendly steps and promoting without sounding patronising (this is key since otherwise it makes this kind of promotion counter-productive!) climate action within their community.
Another principle of values-based communication listed in this guide is: “Don’t focus on doom and gloom”. We can all come up with examples when negative communication has resulted in little buying into the message of such communication campaigns. Therefore, positive campaigning for climate action is key.
Finally, another principle which attracted my attention is: “Severe weather is an opportunity to engage on climate change but proceed with caution…” i.e. do not automatically associate single weather events with climate change but instead explain to people that adverse weather events are a consequence of climate change and people have to get together in the fight to tackle it.
I believe that this values-based approach should be adopted by not only a few but all organisations that wish to engage the general public, corporations and politicians with climate change and sustainability in general.
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Simon thank you for sharing the information regarding Climate Outreach, effective communication is important in getting people actively involved in any project; the value-based approach Climate Outreach is undertaking is helpful in the ongoing fight against climate change. Though Climate change is a critical issue with global impacts, response efforts have been insufficient. I believe Climate Outreach provides good reassurance that with the appropriate conversations and communication, the challenges climate change presents can be overcome. Their messaging seems to do a good job at making people feel that they are part of the solution, which makes their campaign more effective.
It is important to make existing knowledge and research work on climate change known and available to the public. I have always found it interesting that those most affected by the impacts of climate change rarely have any input into the process of formulating mitigation policies (Climate Outreach, 2015). Many people, particularly youth, show concern for climate change but lack enough information to understand the science and economics involved.
Communication is key to addressing climate change; international efforts and campaigns tend to be ineffective when information is not effectively received. For this reason, I like how Climate Outreach (2015) suggests holding workshops with businesses, NGOs, and governments to directly connect with stakeholders, as well as constantly engage new and diverse audiences to understand the most effective ways to combat climate change. Personally, I believe the best strategies to effectively communicate climate change issues involve soliciting the participation of people who have directly suffered the effects. This type of awareness assists to demonstrate the reality of the issue at hand and the urgency at which we must move to address the challenge. It is also important that people are made aware of the numerous efforts and achievements already in progress to tackle climate change challenges so that they may join the movement for a solution.
Reference
Climate Outreach. (2015, October 21). Climate Outreach: About Us.
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Thanks for introducing us to this organisation, Simon. I have heard somewhere, maybe even in one of our lectures, about the opportunity to engage with the ‘right’ through appealing to their values, but wasn’t sure where to find more information.
It’s surprising that this is such a little known NGO, when you’re absolutely right that the conversation has become polarised and is very much labelled as a crusade by the left, and often presented as against the right.
I haven’t looked into this Climate Outreach in detail yet, but I wanted to highlight one values-based argument that I think could also be very effective. This is about the business opportunities of avoiding or building up resilience to climate change. Countless innovative solutions are needed to help us prepare and to avoid the worst effects of climate change, as well as those to help avert the temperature increases we are on track for. The idea of a carbon fee is presented as a Republican idea, because it becomes a cost of doing business, but one that applied equally. So it relates to the value of working hard (for innovative solutions) to provide for one’s family. It’s just unfortunate that there seems to be this divide where we are less able to accept shared values.
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