How We Follow Climate Change: Climate News Use and Attitudes in Eight Countries

"Newsrooms across the world will increasingly play a vital role around climate change."

This report shares the results of research that sought to understand how people in eight countries - Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States - access news and information about climate change. In particular, the research sought to find out more about people's attitudes towards climate change news, including whom they trust as sources of information, how climate news makes them feel, how well they think news media are performing covering it, and how these factors vary in different parts of the world. The report was published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism as part of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, a project designed to help journalists and newsroom leaders transform the way they cover the climate crisis.

The research is based on an online survey conducted from August to September 2022 by the global research organisation Ipsos, and it included men and women between the ages of 18 and 75. A special effort was made to collect data from the Southern countries - Brazil, India, and Pakistan - where very little is known about how people access climate news and what they think about it. This is despite the fact that these countries are home to very large numbers of people and are exposed to greater climate risks. The researchers acknowledge the limits of this study in light of the limited internet access in these countries and say the results "should be treated as, at best, representative of the online, English-speaking populations (respondents in Pakistan could choose to complete the survey in Urdu but the vast majority selected an English survey)."  

The results are shared across the following four categories with the help of graphs and are summarised in the report as follows:

1. Climate change and news:

• About half the respondents say they have engaged with climate change news or information in the past week, with about one in seven having seen some in the past two weeks. A large minority of less engaged users say they have come across climate change news or information less frequently than that. But only a tiny proportion say they never see any news or information about climate change.
• Looking at where people are getting news and information about climate change, the news media are clearly playing an important role. The single most important medium is television, identified by almost a third of the respondents as something they have used. About the same share say they have used various online news sources, including news sites and platforms such as social media or messaging apps.
• In most of the countries covered, there is a significantly smaller share of younger people who have engaged with climate change news and information in the past week compared with older age groups.
• Asked about what sources respondents have seen featured in news and information about climate change, scientists and/or environmental activists are the most prominent, with governments and politicians or political parties not far behind. A smaller number recall hearing from international institutions such as the United Nations (UN), along with energy companies, followed by a number of less prominent types of sources.
• Overall, about half of respondents say they trust the news media as a source of news and information about climate change. People have very different levels of trust in the various sources they see featured in news coverage, ranging from high and broad-based trust in scientists to generally low levels of trust in energy companies and in politicians or political parties. Trust in environmental activists varies significantly from country to country.
• Trust in different sources varies by country as well as by political orientation, with those on the political right in many countries expressing less trust in both environmental activists and scientists. Despite these differences, in almost every country covered, a clear majority of those on the political right say they trust scientists as sources of climate change news and information.

2. News avoidance:

• Selective news avoidance, where people actively try to avoid news often, even if they also continue to follow it at least some of the time, is almost as widespread for news on climate change as it is for news in general, ranging from 10% in Japan to 41% in India. Beyond reasons that seem tied to politics (e.g., perceptions of bias), several of the most frequently mentioned reasons for selective avoidance of climate change news and information have to do with exhaustion (e.g., "worn out", "too much"), limited value ("nothing new", "nothing I can do"), and anxiety ("a negative effect on my mood").

3. Misinformation on climate change:

• When it comes to misinformation, large majorities of respondents in every country covered are at least somewhat concerned about whether climate news and information they come across (whether online or offline) is false or misleading, and many say they themselves have come across climate change news or information they believe is false or misleading (though it is a minority who say that they see such content all the time or often).
• Asked about the media they suspect carry misinformation, television and online (including on social media or using messaging apps) are the most frequently mentioned; among sources of suspected misinformation, the most frequently mentioned are politicians, political parties, and governments. Whereas people in some countries rely more on television for news about climate change, people generally are slightly more likely to associate false information with online use, and within that, social media use.

4. Public perceptions on climate news:

• Those who consume climate change news more frequently are more likely to agree they find it empowering in some way, either because it helps them know what to do in response, prompts them to consume more information, or gives them more accurate information. Frequent climate change news users are also less likely to feel that climate news contains conflicted views, leaves them confused, or is not relevant to them.
• People who consume climate change news or information on a weekly basis are more likely to think they know the basics of climate science, including, for example, the link between climate change and rising temperatures. However, only around 40% say they know at least a moderate amount about "global policy initiatives to tackle climate change" and their "government's key policies on climate change". This 40% figure is roughly the same for both infrequent climate news users and those who consume it on a weekly basis. This finding highlights that people think they know relatively little about domestic and international climate policy and that more frequent news users feel no more well informed about climate policy.
• A large majority of respondents, ranging between 75% in the US and 89% in India, say they are either "somewhat", "very", or "extremely" worried about the impact of climate change on people all over the world. Typically, those on the left are more likely to say they are worried about the impacts of climate change. However, regardless of political leaning, more than half the respondents in all countries said they are worried about climate impacts.

5. Public attitudes towards climate change and actions:

• Across all eight countries, people who use climate news on a weekly basis are slightly more likely to say they will take some of the more popular actions in response, like recycling, throwing away less food, and using less energy. However, for the less popular actions, like flying less, switching to renewables for household energy, or eating less meat, there are no real differences by climate change news use.
• Results at the aggregate level show that the proportion who agree that their government "is paying enough attention to climate change", "is acting in line with climate science", "is doing everything it can to protect the planet for future generations", and "is doing enough to help avoid a 'climate catastrophe'" range from 20% to 40% in most countries covered. Across all eight countries, people who use climate news on a weekly basis are even less likely to agree that their governments are doing enough to address climate change.

In conclusion, the report makes the point that for the less well-served parts of the public, the findings show that there is an "important opportunity to help a wider range of people build a better understanding of where we are with climate change, the implications, and what we can do in response, most importantly in terms of domestic and international policy." Given how political the issue is, and how essential policy is to an effective response, the report points to the important role of editors and journalists in creating a better understanding of people's own government's policy responses to climate change or of global policy initiatives to tackle climate change.