Communications and Climate Change: How We Can Do Better

Climate change is a pressing issue that has dominated politics and the media for decades, but how is communications playing a role in the presentation of the issue and how can organizations improve their strategies to help garner more attention?

Photo Courtesy of UNEP

Current State of Communications in Climate Change

Taking a look at how issues regarding climate change are presented to the public, most organizations utilize social media campaigns to inform audiences of their causes. This has been exemplified by organizations such as 4Ocean and TeamTrees, which used extensive marketing and advertising on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. This has been effective in reaching their target audience of Gen-Z and millennials, who make up about 70% of social media users. What has been most effective are campaigns that rely on interaction or sharing from followers, mainly through the “Story” features of platforms. This strategy has helped raise awareness and millions of dollars for environmental causes over the past few years.

The Glaring Problem

While past campaigns have been effective in reaching their audiences, they struggle with retaining their attention over time. Many times, we have seen successful social media campaigns fall out of the spotlight after being swept aside for newer problems that have arisen. The problem with this is that while these campaigns are providing temporary solutions to climate change, they are failing to address the issue long-term, which is the main concern. In addition to this, social media campaigns themselves alienate the older audiences who have limited presence on platforms and with an issue like climate change being the focus, it’s important to be reaching as many people as possible.

Changes To Be Made

The first step toward improving communication tactics associated with climate change is to make the content being presented to viewers much more memorable. Organizations should be putting out content and imagery that audiences can resonate with, as that makes them much more likely to take action. Another reason that memorable content is important, is that it is much less likely to be swept under the rug when other issues arise meaning that it simply won’t be delegated to the “We’ll deal with it later” along with many other pressing issues. In regards to reaching new audiences, the best course of action would be to expand on campaign advertising outside of social media. This means running campaigns on television through commercials and utilizing physical advertisements such as billboards or signs, as those who are alienated by social media campaigns are far more likely to be reached.

The Path to Success

With all that being said, the steps that communications have made in informing the public about climate change are monumental. Many people, especially younger generations, have a greater appreciation for the environment and are committed to helping fight the issue that is relevant to all of us. There is still a lot of progress to be made, but with a few tweaks in approach and execution, we can all come together and fight for the planet that we love so much.

If you are interested in reading more, here is a more in-depth analysis of the issue of climate change and communications.

Communications is Everywhere.pdf

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