Resource Type: Field Research

If we focus on women, we can persuade twice as many people for the same resources. Time and again, women just appear to be significantly more persuadable to become climate advocates than men. In other words, when men and women are shown the same messages, we see significantly higher increases in “support for government action on climate change” with women. Fossil fuel industry messaging works on men, but not much on women. In a test about job creation versus job loss, which pitted a pro-climate message against an ad from the oil-and-gas industry, women were two times more likely to be persuaded to strongly support climate action. Even after viewing the fossil fuel industry’s ad, they remained strong supporters for climate action. In contrast, viewing a fossil fuel industry ad tended to decrease support for action among men; viewing a pro-climate message, which would otherwise increase support among men on its own, did not counteract the fossil fuel industry’s job loss message.

The Climate Reality Project and Citizens’ Climate Lobby were interested in knowing whether informing people about existing bipartisan governmental bodies (e.g., the Climate Solutions Caucus in the US House of Representatives) would make the public, in particular moderates and conservatives, both think and act differently about climate. Their hypothesis was that signaling bipartisanship and governmental provenance in an organization could increase enthusiasm about climate action by showing people that powerful interests could unite to tackle the issue.
They find that messaging about government initiatives (as opposed to business and NGO efforts) significantly increases peoples’ sense of efficacy for climate action, which then translates to increased support for personal action-taking. Among conservative men, emphasizing bipartisan government action increases their support for personal action by 30% compared to the bipartisan NGO condition due to raising their second-order beliefs. In other words, telling conservative men that bipartisan governmental groups exist to work on climate change reduces their propensity to say that the average Republican opposes climate action by the government. The researchers do not find any evidence that emphasizing bipartisan government action increases respondents’ optimism about the climate crisis.

Climate change is a major motivator to support clean energy among civically engaged Latinos. A survey of supporters of the Latino civic engagement organization Mi Familia Vota Education Fund found that climate was as or more often rated as an “extremely important” rationale for moving to 100% clean energy cities than any other reason, including the job benefits it could produce. Additionally, neither school systems nor city government emerged as an obviously more attractive campaign target when survey respondents were asked about their familiarity with and confidence in influencing these two institutions (i.e., “efficacy” beliefs). This research was conducted as part of a field research grant to Climate Parents from the Climate Advocacy Lab.

Prompts to help you think through developing a research project, from big-picture strategy to the specifics of a hypothesis.

Relational climate conversations (talking about climate change with people you know) can be very effective at changing hearts and minds, but requires thoughtful practice to implement and evaluate. It takes more than just trainings and a script. Rather, the tactic only works with an existing organizational support structure that can create a community of collective accountability and help advocates navigate potentially vulnerable social interactions. Intentional focus on community-building and mutual support is key.  A panel presentation as part of the Greenpeace Data Activist Co-Op.

It’s hard not to feel we are in an epic climate moment this hot summer, from unprecedented heatwaves, policy-altering droughts, and wildfires creating their own weather in my native Oregon, to the 1,000-year flooding in Europe. But also, new climate plans and laws in Europe (hello veggie school lunches!) and the possibility of significant climate policy and carbon border taxes in the US.
At the same time, at the Lab, we know that many of the climate wins we need will be built on the foundation of investments now in research to answer the critical public engagement questions facing our movement.
Today we share our latest Research Agenda, a roadmap of what we think are some of the most critical gaps in the community’s evidence base. In putting forward a research agenda, we hope to inspire and facilitate critical conversations, and we welcome input as we develop our research plans. We are also looking for partners to help us execute this agenda: climate advocacy organizations interested in field research, and funders to make ongoing learning possible. Please be in touch.