Communicating climate change: Making it work

COMMUNICATING CLIMATE CHANGE:
MAKING IT WORK
ÖSTERREICHISCHER KLIMATAG GRAZ 2016
CAREL CARLOWITZ MOHN
HOW DOES „TALKING CLIMATE“ FEEL TO YOU?
Dass die eigenen Ansichten die
Erkenntnisse der Forschung korrekt
widerspiegeln, ist nur eines von vielen
Zielen, das die menschliche Psyche …
verfolgt – noch dazu eines, das häufig
überschattet wird von Weltanschauung oder
Wunschdenken im Angesicht eines
gewaltigen Problems ohne offensichtliche
Lösung.
Elke U. Weber
 klimafakten.at: Who we are and what we do
 Communicating climate science: Some initial observations
 Science meets reality: The mechanics of climate science in the public domain
 The effects: How scientists are affected by the climate-communications conundrum
 Social sciences coming in: Some insights for practical communications
 Making it work: What climate science communicators can take home
OVERVIEW
klimafakten.at
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO

Established in 2011

1st objective: Getting the facts right about climate science

2nd objective: Providing insights on how the facts can be
communicated

Funded by the European Climate Foundation and Stiftung
Mercator

Working under one roof with Agora Energiewende, Agora
Verkehrswende and Clean Energy Wire

www.klimafakten.at | @klimafakten
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: SOME INITIAL
OBSERVATIONS
… ON WHAT MAKES IT A DIFFICULT SUBJECT
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: SOME OBSERVATIONS
Climate science is highly politicised
Example 2
Example 1
"Gleichzeitige verbindliche Ziele für Klimaschutz,
Energieeffizienz und erneuerbare Energien … nehmen
die ohnehin strauchelnde europäische Industrie an ein
planwirtschaftliches Gängelband."
Holger Krahmer, MEP (FDP) on the EU Climate and
Energy Package 2030
„Klima als …30-jähriges Mittel vom Wetter ändert sich
naturgesetzlich immer, war noch nie konstant und kann
daher ebenso wenig wie das Wetter geschützt werden.
Selbst wenn bewiesen werden könnte, dass
anthropogenes CO2 einen schädlichen Einfluss auf das
Klima ausübt, würde der minimale deutsche Beitrag zur
weltweiten CO2-Vermeidung … die Schädigung unserer
energieintensiven Industrie und die Kostenexplosion für
die privaten Stromkunden nicht rechtfertigen.“
Election manifesto of the AfD Baden-Württemberg, p. 48
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: OBSERVATIONS 2
Obscurity over what the science is
telling us
“The general public has hugely wrong perceptions of the
scientific consensus and of the views shared by
scientists.”
ComRes 2014
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: OBSERVATIONS 3
Key findings of climate science
are denied
Example 1
„…über die Antworten sind sich die Wissenschaftler
durchaus nicht einig. Erwärmt sich das Klima auf der Erde
wirklich, obwohl das seit 15 Jahren nicht nachweisbar ist?
Wurden Daten gefälscht, um zum erwünschten Ergebnis
zu kommen? Wenn es aber wirklich eine globale
Erwärmung gäbe – wäre das gut oder schlecht?
Example 2
Cora Stephan, Columnist (Die Welt, Der Spiegel,
Wirtschaftswoche, FAZ, Die Zeit, DeutschlandRadio,
NDR, NZZ)
„Metalle pro Klima“ (steel industry lobby group)
„Zum einen lässt sich das anvisierte 2-Grad-Ziel
wissenschaftlich nicht stichhaltig begründen, zumal das
Ausbleiben des prognostizierten globalen
Temperaturanstiegs nicht gerade das Vertrauen in die
modellbasierte Klimafolgenforschung stärkt.“
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: OBSERVATIONS 4
Climate science is attacked
Example 1
Example 2
„As a climate scientist, I fled from the United States to
Denmark. I wanted to get away from the drumfire and
simply do research. I want to focus my energy on solving
this crisis – for nature, for our children.
„A few years ago, I was thinking of doing something
completely different. It was after this thing with the hacked
emails.“
Jason E. Box
Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber
COMMUNICATING CLIMATE SCIENCE: OBSERVATIONS 5
“Yes, but …“
Example
“Nach wie vor werden alle Ambitionen Europas beim Klimaschutz
allein durch die steigende CO2-Emissionen Chinas aufgezehrt.”
Michael Vassiliadis, Chairman of the German Mining, Chemicals
and Energy Trade Union IB BCE on the results of the Paris
Climate Agreement
Jänschwalde, lignite power plant
Foto: dpa
WHY THE DISTORTIONS? THE MECHANICS OF CLIMATE
SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
UNDERSTANDING THE FORCES AT WORK
WHY THE DISTORTIONS? THE MECHANICS
Key findings of climate science are
denied
Explanation 1
Corporate campaigning: Think tanks, NGOs and lobby
groups with private sector funding
 disseminate polarising messages on climate change
 question the human impact on climate change
… disproportionally more frequently than other
stakeholders.
Method
Computer-based analysis of all publications of a set of
164 organisations (think tanks, lobby groups, NGOs) and
4.500 individuals
that had published articles critically examining climate
science findings betweeen 1993 and 2013.
N = 40.785 texts with more than 39 million words
Farell 2015
WHY THE DISTORTIONS? THE MECHANICS 2
Explanation 2
Explanation 3
„Ideology shapes climate perceptions“
“Echo chamber effect”
People …
Aggregation of people around common interests,
worldviews, and narratives.
 voting for center-right parties, holding conservative
political views,
 believing in free markets and being skeptical of market
regulation and state intervention
… are more likely to find climate change of little relevance
or even non-existent.
Hornsey 2016
Fragmentation of the public discourse where views are
reinforced by phenomena like “confirmation bias”.
WHY THE DISTORTIONS? THE MECHANICS 3
Explanation 4
“Fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed”
An analysis of 60 Cli-Fi films has shown that most films
left their audience without the information that there are
realistic options for mitigation.
Svoboda, 2015
WHY THE DISTORTIONS? THE MECHANICS 4
Explanation 5
Cognitive dissonance, moral licensing and other
phenomena of behavioural economics
Human beings tend to be more attentive towards
intentional threats by individuals rather than the
unintended consequences of collective behaviour – such
as climate change.
Burkeman 2015
©Daniel Effron
Moral licensing, the phenomenon whereby performing a
virtuous action provides you with a self-righteous inner
glow, leaving you feeling justified in performing some less
virtuous action
THE EFFECTS:
HOW SCIENTISTS ARE AFFECTED BY THE CLIMATECOMMUNICATIONS CONUNDRUM
… AND WHAT IS THE EFFECT ON YOU?
THE EFFECTS: HOW SCIENTISTS ARE AFFECTED
Observations
„Der prüfende Blick aus unserer eigenen akademischen
Gemeinschaft ist genauso einschüchternd wie der von
Öffentlichkeit und Politik. Das geht so weit, dass wir
manchmal zögern, die unangenehmen Wahrheiten
auszusprechen, die wir herausfinden.“
Bows-Larkin 2016
Questions
 How attractive is it for young scientists to enter a
hugely controversial, highly politicised field of science?
 To what extent do climate researcher respond to and
thereby accept false framings of climate science, e.g.
the so called “warming hiatus”?
 What does it mean when climate scientists have
„Mitten in einer Phase, die viele Wissenschaftler – und
"viele" bedeutet: über 95 Prozent – als planetarische Krise
bezeichnen, merken immer mehr Forscher, dass sie nicht
einfach ihre Daten im luftleeren Raum präsentieren
können, um dann abends nach Hause zu gehen und ein
Bierchen zu zischen.“
Whalsh 2015
become more cautious in their language even where
their research results are crystal clear?
(Lewandowski/Oreskes)
“We’ve a weight of evidence that the
average person is simply not aware of –
and this frightens me.”
Shauna Murray
Photo: Nick Bowers
SOCIAL SCIENCES COMING IN:
SOME INSIGHTS FOR PRACTITIONERS
ANTHROPOLOGY, COMMUNICATION SCIENCES, ECONOMICS, GENDER STUDIES, HISTORY,
LINGUISTICS, POLITICAL SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY …
SOCIAL SCIENCE INSIGHTS FOR PRACTITIONERS
New narrative framings: „Talking ethics”
The papal encyclical „Laudato si“ has changed
attitudes towards climate change – beyond members
of the Catholic Church:
In a survey of US citizens, 17 per cent of respondents
stated that the Pope‘s missive had changed their
views. Among Catholics, this number climbed to 35
per cent.
Maybach/Leiserowitz 2015
SOCIAL SCIENCE INSIGHTS FOR PRACTITIONERS 2
Talking emotion
Arguing for climate policy with justice and charity arguments
resonates strongly universally.
Weber 2015
“I am not here to defend the science. I’m here to show that these
scientists aren’t nameless, faceless boffins. They’re real people.
They get it. And they want us to act.”
Joe Duggan, MSc Science Communications, initiator of the “Is this
how you feel project?”
SOCIAL SCIENCE INSIGHTS FOR PRACTITIONERS 3
Social group construction
Labels like “alarmist”, “climate skeptic” or denialist” tend to
emphasise pre-defined differences between groups,
rather than referring to common motivations and shared
values.
Labels foster an environment where preservation of one’s
ideology and group identity takes priority over constructive
deliberation of knowledge or evidence. Essentially who
one is becomes more important that what one is arguing.
Howarth/Sharman 2015
The influence of semantics and surroundings on
perceptions
Experiments have shown that words with positive
connotations like „warming“ tend to lead people to think
more positively about climate change compared to more
neutral terminology.
The external environment is important, too: As the room
temparature increased for participants of a social science
experiment, participant‘s likelihood to regard climate
change as a problem increased correspondingly.
Another study found respondents to be more likely to see
climate change as a problem or to donate money for
NGOs, when they were interviewed on an exceptionally
warm day.
Weber 2015
MAKING IT WORK: WHAT CLIMATE SCIENCE
COMMUNICATORS CAN TAKE HOME
COMMUNICATION HEURISTICS FOR HEURISTICS SKEPTICS
MAKING IT WORK: SCIENCE COMMS HEURISTICS
1.
2.
3.
Avoid simplification and the temptation of stressing
mono-causal explanations: The debate over climate
change and security is a case in point.
Don’t put people off: avoid labelling your
counterparts (e.g. as “denialists”, “alarmists” or
“skeptics”). This enhances the combative nature of
the debate – the perception of widespread scientific
and policy disagreement makes the public less
certain climate change is happening and lowers
support for climate policies.
The quality of climate science journalism can be
safely assessed: robust quality standards are
measured by projects like medien-doktor.de
4.
Communicate uncertainties – but do so in a way that
people understand what you mean.
5.
Talk about the science process: the lack of
knowledge and insight surrounding the methods,
processes and inner workings of climate science is a
fertile breeding ground for mistrust and uncertainty.
6.
Talk about the overwhelming consensus on the
anthropogenic causes of climate change is opening
the door to wider acceptance of climate science
findings. (van der Linden et al., 2015)
MAKING IT WORK: SCIENCE COMMS HEURISTICS 2
“Global Warming’s Five Germanys”
7. “The public” does not exist! Devise
communication strategies to match the
differing views, values and perceptions
of different sub-sets of the public –
which also have different socioeconomic features, differ in their
educational background and have
different media consumption patterns.
Metag/Füchslin/Schäfer 2015
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Bain PG, Milfont TL, Kashima Y et al.: Co-benefits of addressing climate
change can motivate action around the world, Nature Climate Change 6 (2016),
S. 154–157, doi:10.1038/nclimate2814
Bedford D: Does Climate Literacy Matter? A Case Study of U.S. Students’ Level
of Concern about Anthropogenic Global Warming, Journal of Geography, online
veröffentlicht am 25. November 2015, doi: 10.1080/00221341.2015.1105851
Biddle, BJ, Leuschner A: Climate Skepticism and the Manufacture of Doubt:
Can Dissent in Science Be Epistemically Detrimental? European Journal for
Philosophy of Science 5 (3)(2015): 261-278

Farell J: Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change,
PNAS 05.01.2016, vol. 113 no. 1 92-97, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509433112

Hornsey MJ, Harris EA, Bain PG, Fielding KS: Meta-analyses of the
determinants and outcomes of belief in climate change: Nature Climate Change
(2016), doi:10.1038/nclimate2943

Howarth CC, Sharman AG: Labeling opinions in the climate debate: a critical
review. WIREs Clim Change, 6 (2015), S. 239–254. doi: 10.1002/wcc.332

IG BCE: Eine Chance auf wirksamen Klimaschutz, https://www.igbce.de/xix-54ergebnisse-cop-21/118968, abgerufen am 10.03.2016

Lewandowsky S, Oreskes N, Risbey JS, Newell BR, Smithson M: Seepage:
Climate change denial and its effect on the scientific community. Global
Environmental Change (2015), 33, 1-13.

Burkeman O: We’re all climate change deniers at heart, The Guardian,
08.06.2015, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/08/climatechange-deniers-g7-goal-fossil-fuels, abgerufen am 10.03.2016

ComRes (Hg.): ECIU Launch Survey, 4th August 2014,
http://eciu.net/assets/ECIU_Launch-Survey_Headline-Findings_4-August-20141.pdf, zuletzt abgerufen am 08.03.2016

Linnenluecke MK, Griffiths A, Mumby, PJ: Executives’ engagement with climate
science and perceived need for business adaptation to climate change, Climatic
Change, Volume 131, Issue 2 (Juli 2015), S. 321-333
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del Vicario M, Bessi A, Zollo F, Petroni F, Scala A, Caldarelli G, Stanley HE,
Quattrociocchi W: The spreading of misinformation online PNAS 2016 113 (3),
S. 554-559; vorab online veröffentlicht am 04.01.2016,
doi:10.1073/pnas.1517441113
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Maibach E, Leiserowitz A, Roser-Renouf C, Myers T, Rosenthal S, Feinberg G:
The Francis Effect: How Pope Francis Changed the Conversation about Global
Warming. George Mason University and Yale University. Fairfax, VA: George
Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication (2015)
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2

Metag J, Füchslin T, Schäfer MS: Global warming’s five Germanys: A typology
of Germans’ views on climate change and patterns of media use and
information Public Understanding of Science 0963662515592558, vorab online
veröffentlicht am 3. Juli 2015, doi:10.1177/0963662515592558

Metalle pro Klima (Hg.): http://metalleproklima.de/cop21/entruempelt-denklimaschutz/ , abgerufen am 10.03.2016

Shi J, Visschers, VHM, Siegrist, M: Public Perception of Climate Change: The
Importance of Knowledge and Cultural Worldviews. Risk Analysis, 35 (2015), S.
2183–2201, doi:10.1111/risa.12406

Stephan C, Eigentümlich frei vom 10.12.2015: http://efmagazin.de/2015/12/10/8064-klimawandel-nur-noch-schnell-die-welt-retten,
abgerufen am 10.03.2016

Svoboda M: Cli-fi on the screen(s): patterns in the representations of climate
change in fictional films. WIREs Clim Change, 7 (2016), S. 3–64.
doi: 10.1002/wcc.381

van der Linden SL, Leiserowitz AA, Feinberg GD, Maibach EW: The Scientific
Consensus on Climate Change as a Gateway Belief: Experimental Evidence.
PLoS ONE 10(2): e0118489 (2015), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118489

Weber EU: What shapes perceptions of climate change? New research since
2010. WIREs Clim Change, 7 (2016), S. 125–134, doi: 10.1002/wcc.377
Carel C. Mohn
Projektleiter Klimafakten
[email protected]
Tel. +49.30.2844 902-13
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