UK Communications Strategy on Climate Change

Prepared by FUTERRA Sustainability Communications Ltd for the Climate Change Communications Working Group in the United Kingdom (UK), this paper documents a
series of proposed recommendations that make up a communication strategy to change attitudes towards climate change in the UK. The strategy recommends using
positive and inspirational messages rather than fear or concern. Within all of the activities to support work on climate change, the research points to a need for a new inspirational goal and a branded statement to link the communications of different organisations. It also proposes that there is a need for better linking of government communications on climate change. It is recommended that members of the Working Group should develop new messages around climate change and should link existing messages on related issues (i.e. energy efficiency) more firmly to climate change. It also recommends using local and regional communicators with high-profile national communications to support the local and regional initiatives.

Local Communications

The authors propose that the research for the communication strategy demonstrated that attitudes on climate change are most persuasively changed through individual interaction rather than other traditional communications channels such as advertising. Therefore the core activity of the communications strategy should be to
motivate, support and ensure the skills of local communicators for climate change and ensure that a diversity of voices on the topic are given the opportunity to express their viewpoints. In order to fulfill this recommendation, it is recommended that local communicators should be provided with skills support on quality climate change communication. In addition, the government should financially support selected local projects that will be especially effective at changing attitudes on climate change, and a fund for local communicators planning appropriate communications on climate change is suggested. The document also proposes that there be:

• immediate issue of a Toolkit that translates the evidence base from the research into a useable and accessible guide to climate change communications;
• development of a network for climate change communicators (and for fund awardees) to share experience and creative concepts; and
• a creative database of excellent climate change communications undertaken at a local level In the longer term, a training package and master classes to provide local climate change communicators with detailed skills in both climate change and general communications/marketing skills.

National Communications

The strategy recommends that there be a series of large-scale national activities over three years with messages and channels selected in order to best support the linking devices mentioned below. Along with developing a new inspirational goal and branding statement, it is recommended that activities such as roadshows and a locally adaptable radio advertising format be created.

Four elements are considered critical to ensuring the smooth implementation of the strategy.

• Hard link - visual and instantly-recognisable ways of linking disparate communications together. This would include a single certification or label for energy efficient/climate change-minimising products and services to be developed and applied.
• Soft links - provide a subtler way of linking government communications with each other and with climate change. This includes creating a common understanding of and plan for consolidating the terminology, tone, imagery and research that the evidence indicates will be most successful in changing attitudes.
  This would include agreeing on definitions and explanations that are readily understood by the UK public and making the link between human activity/lifestyles
  and climate change. To this end the researchers have provided a ‘word bank’ of terms that are helpful or not, and a ‘core script’ for a branded statement.
• Media Management - To help shift the emphasis towards a more informed debate about how to mitigate climate change, editors need to be assisted
  in their understanding of the all-pervasive importance of climate change across a range of different editorial responsibilities. The strategy proposes that to increase coverage of climate change solutions and encourage more references to climate change in relation to other issues (health, employment, leisure and the economy), there is a need for press officer training across Government departments and to engage specialist media. A media resource should also be included as part of the website.
• Website - a national web ‘portal’ for climate change with campaign links and access to the relevant organisations. Latest news, factual updates, new presentational materials, images, etc. can all then be made available to the network of local communicators, dramatically increasing the currency and effectiveness of their outreach. It is recommended that a climate change ‘web-portal’ for the UK be developed that can act as a first port of call for those interested in climate change knowledge, communications and to find mitigation, adaptation and action links.

The strategy concludes by proposing that an initial quantitative survey and/or qualitative interviews be carried out prior to the implementation of the
communications strategy to identify the precommunications baseline knowledge/attitudes so that the strategy may be measured by quantitative or qualitative means.