Six ways to change hearts and minds about climate change 2020 What we say about climate change and how we say it matters. It affects how people think, feel and act. The right story can build the public appetite needed to catalyse change. Decades of research and experience shows how stories can shift how people think and feel. They can...
Communicating climate change during the Covid-19 crisis: what the evidence says 2020 The world has changed and climate advocates are having to change with it, adapting plans and campaigns to a profoundly new external environment. Timing and sensitivity are paramount in communicating climate change during Covid-19 – otherwise the climate sector risks undermining climate action for the long term. So...
A guide to the science of climate change communication 2018 This resource is a workshop with information and practical exercises that will give you knowledge of the science of climate change communication, and the confidence to apply this knowledge in practice with non-academic audiences. It is designed for all researchers across the physical, natural and social sciences.
Climate Visuals: Towards a new visual language for COP22 and beyond: Supplementary report: A comparison of images from COP21 and COP22 2017 A narrow visual vocabulary currently determines climate change in the public mind: polar bears, melting ice-caps, smokestacks and – as the results of our Climate Visuals research show – potentially polarising images of environmental protesters. This can undermine...
Climate Visuals: Towards a new visual language for climate change: An evidence-based Briefing for COP22 and beyond. 2016 Despite the energy and resources our community dedicates to communication strategies for written and spoken campaign materials, the amount of research on how to effectively engage people using visual images of climate change is much more limited. As a result, an easily-recognisable...
Communicating drought risk in a changing climate 2016 This initial briefing paper summarises research and expertise on public communication of drought risks in a changing climate. We explore the difficulties involved in building understanding and engagement with the sometimes complex issues surrounding climate change and drought in the UK. The report outlines how communicators can best respond to these challenges....
Managing the Psychological Distance of Climate Change 2016 Climate change is a notoriously ‘distant’ risk for most people – it feels ‘not here’ and it feels ‘not now’. Anyone who has had any experience trying to engage the public on climate change will likely recognise the challenge of overcoming the so-called ‘psychological distance’ of the issue, and bringing climate change...
Climate Visuals 2016 Every day, thousands of images of climate change are shared around the world. But while research on the verbal and written communication of climate change has proliferated, our understanding of how people interpret visual images of climate change is limited to a much smaller number of academic studies, which do not provide much in the way of...
The Uncertainty Handbook: A Practical Guide for Climate Change Communicators 2015 If you have ever struggled with the communication of uncertainty, then this handbook is for you. It distills the most important research findings and expert advice into a few pages of practical, easy- to-apply techniques providing scientists, policy-makers and campaigners with the tools they need to communicate more effectively...
Communicating climate change adaptation: A practical guide to values-based communication 2014 Engaging meaningfully with a diverse range of individuals and organisations is one of the biggest challenges surrounding climate change adaptation. To help address this issue, COIN has teamed up with Adaptation Scotland, a programme funded by the Scottish Government to help the country address and prepare for the impacts...
