Karen Land Short
Solving climate change starts and ends with behavior change. The UK Climate Change Committee says that 59% of the Net Zero transition is dependent on behavior change. Link Creativity brings the magic needed to make behavior change happen: Simplification. Captivation. Participation. And, for sustainability, where the details and the science are everything, the scene is set for those that do creativity and sustainability expertise well to make an enormous difference.
How climate change is framed will influence how people perceive it, and therefore what actions they are willing to take. By framing climate change as an urgent problem that requires immediate action, as well as an opportunity to create a better future rather than a sacrifice, we can motivate people to take personal action.1 Successful communication approaches speak to people’s values, frame sustainable behavior and activism as social norms, and highlight climate engagement as widespread and effective.2
People are also influenced by what they perceive as social norms. By highlighting the actions of others who are taking steps to reduce their climate impacts, in particular influencers (see Influencing The Influencers), we can encourage others to follow suit. Social norms can be established culturally, or through policies which promote pro-environmental behavior. Such policies should provide incentives and rewards for sustainable behaviors, such as tax credits or discounts for using public transport.
Ann-Christine Duhaime
How Does Cultural Change Happen?
The climate challenge is superimposed on other shifts in how humans live compared to the circumstances under which our main tool – our brain – evolved its current design. We have a tremendous amount of built-in flexibility (also called plasticity) that has enabled us to expand and adapt to new geographies, cultures, and threats over hundreds of thousands of years. Science and technology advance exponentially, as discoveries beget new discoveries; this is the basis for our rapid inventiveness and industrialization. Plasticity allowed us to invent the industrial causes of climate change before we understood the consequences. It allowed for spectacularly rapid advances in engineering, biomedical research, and information technology.
Cultural change follows scientific and technological change, and as these have increased their pace of change, culture too has changed at an accelerating rate. Some authors have hypothesized that the pace of change may have reached the limit of human adaptability. This may be another reason we cling to familiarity, experience unease with rapid changes in what is “correct” behavior, and feel general anxiety and a sense of being “unmoored”.
Climate change is for some the proverbial last straw – even the very earth and planet have become unstable, and the rhythms of seasons and relatively predictable variations in flora and fauna can no longer be relied on to calm our sense of instability. Besides the understandable phenomena of climate anxiety and depression, another reaction such distress may engender is simple climate denial. Political polarization, informational segregation, and the powerful influence of vested economic interests enhance the challenges of effective individual and collective climate action.
In communication and social sciences, frames and deep frames are concepts that help understand how people interpret information and make sense of the world. A frame refers to the mental structure that shapes the way we see things — like a lens through which we interpret information, experiences, and decisions. For example, the climate crisis could be communicated through an economic frame (in terms of the potential for green jobs, or the economic impacts of climate change), health framings (discussing air pollution in terms of its impacts on respiratory health), or moral frames (in terms of our responsibility to future generations or all forms of life).
Deep frames, on the other hand, go a step further. They are more profound, subconscious, and long-held beliefs that influence how we perceive the world. Deep frames shape our moral and value judgments and are often associated with our cultural, social, and personal identities. They are much harder to alter as they form the core of our belief system. An example of a deep frame might be a worldview that values individualism and personal responsibility over collective action, which could shape one's perspective on issues like social welfare or climate change.3
Therefore, when trying to communicate or persuade, it's not enough to just present facts. We should consider the frames and deep frames through which the audience will interpret that information. A successful message or narrative is one that aligns with or subtly shifts these frames to create understanding or change.3
While information dissemination is not enough to foster meaningful climate engagement, providing people with accurate and accessible information about climate change and its impacts can help grow understanding of the issue and the actions we can all take to address it. Most people want to take action on climate change, but simply don’t know where to start. Climate literacy can help dispel misinformation and close knowledge gaps that may be creating mental barriers to action: The UK’s Behavioural Insights Team recommends providing people with simple and easy-to-use guidance in the form of information hubs on what they can do, and how to reduce their carbon footprint. But ultimately, the behavior change necessary to meet Net Zero will necessitate an enabling environment built by businesses, markets and institutions,4 where low-carbon choices are the norm rather than the exception.
Climate communication expert Susan Joy Hassol stresses the importance of understanding that climate disruption isn't just an environmental issue, but a matter of universal concern affecting everyone's interests and values.5 A 2021 Gallup survey found that only 41 percent of Americans identify as environmentalists, and due to political polarization, climate change discussions can be contentious. However, everyone's life is touched by the climate crisis — whether they are people of faith, fishing enthusiasts, skiers, or simply consumers of foods such as coffee, chocolate, corn, and wheat. The climate crisis is also affecting people with the increasing summer heat, wildfire smoke, and other forms of extreme weather. Hassol advises using what people care about as a starting point for climate discussions, reinforcing that effective communication hinges on connecting over shared values, building trust, and finding common ground.5
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Marcy Franck
How to Make Climate an Engaging Topic
Reaching people on difficult topics with content they want to engage with is a heavy lift. In four years of publishing The Climate Optimist, we’ve learned that our winning recipe includes four ingredients:
- Make it personal. Writing in the first person and including anecdotes about how we’re feeling, in addition to stories about climate progress, leads to more positive reader feedback and an uptick in subscribers.
- Use humor, because a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Research supports that humor helps people engage deeper in climate messaging, believe more strongly in climate science, and become more likely to engage in climate activism.
- Acknowledge the gravity of the moment: We make clear that climate optimism isn’t about denying what we can see with our own eyes, or ignoring our grief for what we’ve lost. It’s understanding that we know how to prevent things from getting worse and that we’re making progress.
- Share tips for managing emotions and tools for changing mindsets: Our most successful issues in terms of new subscribers, feedback, and open rates focus on policy wins and fostering hope, cultivating optimism, overcoming climate guilt, and nurturing joy.
It's possible to engage individuals who resist acknowledging human-caused climate change by approaching the conversation through a "side door". Clean energy, widely liked for co-benefits such as cleaner air and water, energy security, cost reduction, and job creation, can serve as a common ground without addressing climate change directly. Studies have demonstrated that highlighting economic benefits can effectively motivate action on climate change across political groups. Emphasizing the necessity of social support to combat climate disruption.5
Peer-to-peer dialogues have been proven to help eliminate misunderstanding about climate change and encourage the adoption of low-carbon lifestyles,6 which can be achieved organically through increasing climate literacy (see Conclusions), trusted spokespeople (see Influencing The Influencers), or approaches such as Narrative Workshops, which facilitate climate change conversations and are based on storytelling, which is a powerful way of engaging the public with climate issues (see 10).7
Place-based approaches make climate messages more relevant by connecting them to people’s daily lives and lived experiences.8 Since climate change is often not considered a day-to-day priority, communicators should address issues people already care about and that are immediate, tangible and local – from public transport, green spaces, to energy security, air pollution or flooding. There are a number of issues we can agree on without having to address climate change directly — our focus should be on the fact that by tackling climate change, we would significantly improve some of society’s most pressing issues along with it9 — and our messaging must underline how sustainable behaviors fit into this equation.10
As climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe stresses in her book Saving Us, going beyond talking about climate can sometimes be the key to capturing hard-to-reach audiences. For example, a farmer may care more about how rising temperatures might affect food production, while a community of faith may respond more positively to the notion of protecting God’s creation, rather than hard scientific facts.11 Focusing on co-benefits is another effective method to advocate for new policies. Being ‘green’ is strongly associated with being inconvenient or more expensive — in the UK, most people support Net Zero policies, but this support drops significantly once people learn about the cost associated with policies.12 Therefore, explaining the non-climate benefits of climate policies, such as reduced bills and improved health, will be crucial. We can achieve this by normalizing climate action, stressing its effectiveness and utilizing trusted messengers.
CASE STUDY
Firstlight: Delivering impactful climate communication
- Be accessible, positive and contextual: Don’t assume that your audience has a good understanding of climate issues. Use engaging spokespeople, stress the economic benefits of climate action, and avoid terminology that could be confusing or trigger negative emotions.
- Tailor your approach to different audiences: Be clear about who is being targeted, and tailor your message accordingly.
- Highlight results, not just promises: Rather than highlighting pledges, it is important to highlight meaningful progress towards targets in order to restore trust.
- Have difficult conversations: Step outside echo chambers and engage with people whose views aren’t aligned with our own. Understand their motivations and thought processes to develop effective engagement strategies.
- Challenge established rules of engagement: Climate experts often speak in terms of probabilities, while detractors speak with absolute conviction. Challenge media platform to move from confrontation to consensus, and deliver unbiased messaging on climate change.
The issues outlined in this section are compounded by the advertising industry’s current approach, which paints a picture of a “good life” in terms of status and wealth.13 Because climate change is often explained through an abstract scientific lens, most people can’t visualize what a world with 1.5 degrees, 2 or even 4 degrees of warming would look like. Climate communication experts argue that the missing ingredient in this connection is emotions, which are important determinants in risk perception (see The Psychology of Climate Change). Emotions are often ignored in both academia and policy as they are seen as “irrational”, but they may just be holding the solution to the communication conundrum, as they influence our practical and moral decision making.14
CASE STUDY
Accenture Song: Which values connect us to sustainability?15
- Care: Protecting the people, objects, and ways of life that matter
- Empowerment: Using our agency to create positive change and stand up for our values
- Openness: Exploring how things could be different in order to be content with ourselves
- Self-fulfillment: Striving to be our best selves, by pursuing physical, mental, and spiritual wellness
- Connection: Building a sense of closeness within communities, or to incentivize social comparison
- Resourcefulness: Building stability and getting the most value by maximizing resources
For those pushing for social change, it's essential to connect with people's emotions. Many groups try to get support by sharing sad stories, hoping others will also feel and care deeply. However, making people feel too sad or guilty might actually push them away instead. Research has shown that most people avoid information that makes them upset or guilty. On the other hand, positive feelings — like wonder or pride — can draw people in and make them more willing to engage, as they feel more connected to others and more open to new ideas. Another study found that people who expected to feel proud about doing something good were more likely to act than those who feared feeling guilty for not acting. When trying to motivate people to act, it's key to focus on positive emotions that align with the goal of our messaging.16
The most utilized emotion in climate change communication to date has been fear (see Is Doomism The New Delay?) — but a number of academics argue that this approach may be counterproductive. The efficacy of fear appeals versus hopeful messages in climate change communication is a contentious topic, with some research suggesting that distressing information about climate change can lead to psychological dissonance and even climate denial.17 While fear-based approaches can be effective in attracting people’s attention and creating initial engagement, they are thought to be ineffective in motivating sustained personal engagement and can have a negative impact on mental health.18 Instead, communicators should strike a balance between conveying the urgency of the climate crisis and fostering a sense of agency through highlighting solutions and ways individuals can take action beyond just behavior change. To prevent falling into either doom or complacency, communicators can use non-threatening imagery that relates to people’s everyday emotions and concerns to reduce psychological distance and promote positive engagement with climate action.19
Ross Findon
Moving Beyond Fear
The creative industries rely on attention. It is often the measure of our success, and we treat it like other industries treat resources like cotton or oil or wood, a thing to be harvested and turned into profit. And in that race for attention we have come to rely on narratives of anger, fear, and division. These are the emotions that generate the clicks on social media posts and the news article shares, but they are not the narratives that drive meaningful action.
In recent years we have seen increasing polarization and anxiety around climate change, and as communicators and creatives we must recognize our role in this. Science tells us that these states of mind paralyze rather than empower, leading us to retreat into our bubbles, the comfort of the familiar, or to avoid the issue altogether.
Now is the time to tell a new story; to create narratives built on realism, but that point to the solutions at hand and the opportunities ahead of us. It means moving forward from the indisputable ‘why’ we have established through storytelling, into the ‘how’ chapter that can turn yesterday’s anxiety into today’s action and tomorrow’s impact.
Positive, hope- and solutions-oriented framings have been found effective in engaging people in climate issues — using storytelling, humor, and cultural symbols.20 It’s important to strike a balance between communicating the urgency of the climate crisis, whilst also avoiding overly negative framings, which can lead to desensitization, disengagement, and a lack of belief in one’s self-efficacy.21 Positive framings can help sustain engagement over time, and when promoting sustainable behaviors should mention co-benefits of said behaviors. Solutions-focused framings should be combined with place-based communication approaches as well as storytelling (see The Power of Climate Storytelling).
Personal stories highlighting the impact of climate change on individuals have shown potential in driving emotional engagement with climate change by increasing worry and compassion, climate change belief, and risk perception.22 Narrative-based communication strategies can effectively foster climate change engagement by reducing perceived psychological distance to the climate crisis.18
Emotions like pride, guilt, and anger have been found to influence climate action by increasing intentions to protect the environment, willingness to repair environmental damages, and wanting to punish harmful environmental actions.23 However, emotional responses are fleeting — in one study, sadness triggered by a film clip about climate change impacts predicted time spent on a carbon footprint calculator and subsequent donations, but its impact substantially lessened with a one-hour delay between viewing the film and making the decision. In turn, the effect was restored if participants made a non-binding commitment to donate right after the film, highlighting the need to consider gaps between emotional responses and desired actions in climate change communications (see Revolutionary Hope And Optimism).24
Paddy Loughman
The ball’s in your court
Communication techniques aren’t cheating, they are the rules of the game seeking to influence human psychology. There is a lingering belief among some communicators and policymakers that using values and emotion in communications is manipulative and immoral — like cheating. They believe that making change means tending to a public information deficit, and that to ‘play fair’ we just need to educate people – give them all the facts.
This position is understandable, but misses a crucial fact: facts alone don't move people. You may have spotted the irony here: this fact does not, therefore, move those communicators. So it might help to explain this with an image. As the educator Lynell Burmark puts it: "unless our words, concepts and ideas are hooked to images, they will go in one ear and out the other." Let’s try it with a tennis racket: Communication techniques, from framing and emotive storytelling to body language and leveraging values, are not inherently immoral, and they are not cheating. They are simply how to play the game.
If you opt out of using these techniques, you are in fact opting out of the game. Like a tennis player standing on the court without a racket, somehow expecting to return a serve. If communicators want to win the game, they need the right equipment, they need a good tennis racket. This doesn't mean there isn't a moral dimension, there certainly is – it comes in the intention with which they wield the techniques.
Bad actors have been using them with intentions that most would agree are immoral – acting out of narcissism or greed, or convincing people that doing something will be in those people's best interest, when in fact it will only serve the communicator. The history of advertising and politics is full of such examples.
The way communicators then cheat is by lying. Lying is like taking a performance-enhancing drug, because lying can move faster and be more persuasive. Faster because you can make up lies faster than you can prove truths, and because if you can tell people exactly what they want to hear, then it is more likely to be shared. Just like with performance-enhancing drugs, we have to expose and protect people from lying — emphasizing the selfish, immoral intentions of the liar. We've known much of this for a long time.
Whilst facts play a role in communications, it is much more effective to lead with values and emotion. If you want to win the game of persuasion fairly, pick up the racket and play well.
The concept of warm glow, originally developed to explain prosocial behavior, suggests that people behave prosocially because of the rewarding emotional experience they get from helping others.25 This warm glow is also experienced during pro-environmental actions,26 and is a stronger motivator than anticipated practical gains such as financial savings.27 It not only acts as a reward, but also drives future pro-environmental behavior:28 the anticipation of positive emotions — particularly pride — is more effective for forming pro-environmental intentions than guilt.29 Creating opportunities to experience warm glow from pro-environmental actions could be a promising strategy to encourage more sustainable behavior.30
Advertising agency Accenture Song recommends aligning sustainability with core human values like caring, self-fulfillment, or resourcefulness, making sustainability relatable by connecting climate change concerns to personal experiences. Sustainability efforts suffer from a "Relevancy Gap", or a stark contrast between organizational approaches to sustainability and people's perception and engagement with it. This gap contributes to a disconnect, with three in five people not strongly identifying with the idea of living sustainably.31
Expressions of sustainability are diverse — people don't necessarily need to care or understand it to act sustainably, and often feel alienated by typical representations. Rather than being driven by organizations, sustainable values are cultivated socially. Even today, sustainability is often not feasible for many people — the challenge lies in making sustainability relevant and actionable, requiring a shift from "making humans more sustainable" to "making sustainability more human". Closing this gap means that our approach to sustainability and must change alongside business models.31
Effective calls to action motivate people by being clear and relevant — for a call to action to be compelling, it should be specific and easy for people to visualize and follow.16 A study by Melanie Rudd showed that achieving specific tasks, such as “increase recycling,” led participants to feel happier and more accomplished than broad ones like “support environmental sustainability” — this satisfaction increases the likelihood of future engagement.32
People also need to believe their efforts have a real impact. Paul Slovic's research indicated that individuals often feel more motivated to help one person due to perceived impact — when people believe their contribution makes a meaningful difference, they're more likely to act. He found that support often dwindles when the task seems overwhelming, and that people are more inclined to help one person — rather than a large group — as their contribution feels like having a more direct effect.33 Lastly, calls to action should be easy to incorporate into daily routines — like the Ice Bucket Challenge, which capitalized on people's daily social media use. When designing action-oriented messaging, communicators should ensure that they are precise, meaningful, and easy for the audience to engage with.16
It is crucial to recognize that effective communication is not a silver bullet in promoting sustainable behavior — we also need to heal from the decades of separation of the natural world we depend on. Connecting with nature from a young age has been shown to be a significant predictor of pro-environmental behavior in adulthood. Early and frequent interactions with the natural world foster a deep-rooted appreciation for the environment, which in turn encourages individuals to take actions that protect and preserve it. Children who engage in nature-based activities, such as hiking, camping, or simply spending time outdoors, are more likely to exhibit environmentally conscious behaviors and attitudes in their later years — this knowledge has led to the emergence of environmental and sustainability education programs, recognizing that these connections need to begin at a young age.34 Along a similar line, action needs to be taken at the policy level to ensure children and young people have adequate access to green and natural spaces, helping them to maintain physical and mental wellbeing, and building environmental awareness in everyday life.
The challenge of achieving behavior change in line with the 1.5°C temperature goal is immense, but not impossible. Social scientists are beginning to examine the potential for social tipping point interventions, which could pave the way to rapid transformative change to decarbonize our global society. Such interventions include revealing the morally harmful nature of fossil fuels and thus removing the industry’s social license; strengthening climate education and engagement; building carbon-neutral cities; and divesting from assets linked to fossil fuels. Those interventions can reinforce and magnify each other, especially with the emergency of more climate-aware generations which are becoming increasingly politically active.35
Crafting New Climate Change Narratives
Narratives are the very essence of human communication, and have long helped us make sense of complex phenomena. This is particularly evident in discourses around climate change: From the words chosen to represent the crisis — such as 'global warming' versus 'climate change' — to the broader metaphors that define our understanding of it, the way we frame the climate crisis deeply influences public perception and action.
Keep reading- Thaler RH, Sunstein CR. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Money, Health, and the Environment. Final edition. Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC; 2021.
- Gunster S, Hackett RA. From the Front Lines to the Front Page: Environmental Advocacy, Alternative Media and Climate Politics. The International Environmental Communication Association; 2015.
- Lakoff G. Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment. Environ Commun. 2010;4(1):70-81. doi:10.1080/17524030903529749
- The Behavioural Insights Team. How to Build a Net Zero Society: Using Behavioural Insights to Decarbonise Home Energy, Transport, Food, and Material Consumption.; 2023. https://www.bi.team/publications/how-to-build-a-net-zero-society/
- Hassol SJ. The Right Words Are Crucial to Solving Climate Change. Scientific American. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0223-64
- McLoughlin N, Corner A, Clarke J, Whitmarsh L, Capstick S, Nash N. Mainstreaming Low-Carbon Lifestyles. Oxford: Climate Outreach; 2019. https://climateoutreach.org/reports/mainstreaming-low-carbon-lifestyles/
- Shaw C, Corner A. Using Narrative Workshops to socialise the climate debate: Lessons from two case studies – centre-right audiences and the Scottish public. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2017;31:273-283. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.029
- Scottish Government. Net Zero Nation: Draft Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change.; 2020. https://www.gov.scot/publications/net-zero-nation-draft-public-engagement-strategy-climate-change/
- Olano LV. Communicating the Climate Crisis. Climate-XChange. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://climate-xchange.org/communicating-the-climate-crisis/
- Axon S. “The Good Life”: Engaging the public with community-based carbon reduction strategies. Environ Sci Policy. 2016;66:82-92. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2016.08.007
- Hayhoe K. Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. Atria/One Signal Publishers; 2022.
- Firstlight Group. Re-Thinking Climate Communications: Lessons from Deniers and Delayer. Firstlight; 2023. https://www.firstlightgroup.io/app/uploads/2023/01/Rethinking-Climate-Comms-final.pdf
- Purpose Disruptors. Good Life 2030. Purpose Disruptors. Published 2022. Accessed May 24, 2023. https://www.purposedisruptors.org/good-life-2030
- Roeser S. Risk Communication, Public Engagement, and Climate Change: A Role for Emotions: Risk Communication, Public Engagement, and Climate Change. Risk Anal. 2012;32(6):1033-1040. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.2012.01812.x
- Accenture Song. A Primer on Sustainable Communications. Published online 2022.
- Christiano A, Neimand A. The Science of What Makes People Care. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Published 2018. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_science_of_what_makes_people_care
- Feinberg M, Willer R. Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs. Psychol Sci. 2011;22(1):34-38. doi:10.1177/0956797610391911
- Brosch T. Affect and emotions as drivers of climate change perception and action: a review. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2021;42:15-21. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.001
- O’Neill S, Nicholson-Cole S. “Fear Won’t Do It”: Promoting Positive Engagement With Climate Change Through Visual and Iconic Representations. Sci Commun. 2009;30(3):355-379. doi:10.1177/1075547008329201
- Besci F. Lessons in change from social movements. Published May 27, 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.frontlinebesci.com/p/daring-to-be-transformational
- Axon S. The socio-cultural dimensions of community-based sustainability: Implications for transformational change. J Clean Prod. 2020;266:121933. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121933
- Gustafson A, Ballew MT, Goldberg MH, Cutler MJ, Rosenthal SA, Leiserowitz A. Personal Stories Can Shift Climate Change Beliefs and Risk Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Emotion. Commun Rep. 2020;33(3):121-135. doi:10.1080/08934215.2020.1799049
- Harth NS, Leach CW, Kessler T. Guilt, anger, and pride about in-group environmental behaviour: Different emotions predict distinct intentions. J Environ Psychol. 2013;34:18-26. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.12.005
- Schwartz D, Loewenstein G. The Chill of the Moment: Emotions and Proenvironmental Behavior. J Public Policy Mark. 2017;36(2):255-268. doi:10.1509/jppm.16.132
- Andreoni J. Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving. Econ J. 1990;100(401):464. doi:10.2307/2234133
- Taufik D, Bolderdijk JW, Steg L. Acting green elicits a literal warm glow. Nat Clim Change. 2015;5(1):37-40. doi:10.1038/nclimate2449
- Taufik D, Bolderdijk JW, Steg L. Going green? The relative importance of feelings over calculation in driving environmental intent in the Netherlands and the United States. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2016;22:52-62. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.012
- Hartmann P, Eisend M, Apaolaza V, D’Souza C. Warm glow vs. altruistic values: How important is intrinsic emotional reward in proenvironmental behavior? J Environ Psychol. 2017;52:43-55. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.05.006
- Schneider CR, Zaval L, Weber EU, Markowitz EM. The influence of anticipated pride and guilt on pro-environmental decision making. PLOS ONE. 2017;12(11):e0188781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188781
- Chatelain G, Hille SL, Sander D, Patel M, Hahnel UJJ, Brosch T. Feel good, stay green: Positive affect promotes pro-environmental behaviors and mitigates compensatory “mental bookkeeping” effects. J Environ Psychol. 2018;56:3-11. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.02.002
- Accenture Song. Our Human Moment. Published online March 2023. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document/Accenture-Our-Human-Moment-31-Mar-2023.pdf
- Rudd M, Aaker JL, Norton MI. Getting the Most Out of Giving: Pursuing Concretely-Framed Prosocial Goals Maximizes Happiness. SSRN Electron J. Published online 2013. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2259318
- Slovic P. If I look at the mass I will never act. Judgm Decis Mak. 2007;2.
- Rosa CD, Profice CC, Collado S. Nature Experiences and Adults’ Self-Reported Pro-environmental Behaviors: The Role of Connectedness to Nature and Childhood Nature Experiences. Front Psychol. 2018;9. Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01055
- Lenferna A, Otto IM, Donges J. How social “tipping points” could limit global warming. The Conversation. Published January 30, 2020. Accessed May 23, 2023. http://theconversation.com/how-social-tipping-points-could-limit-global-warming-130309
Figure 62: Values that connects us to sustainability. Source: Accenture Song.
Figure 63: Climate change news that might transmit a message of fear.
Source: TED & Clover Hogan
Source: TED & Katharina Van Bronswijk
Karen Land Short
Solving climate change starts and ends with behavior change. The UK Climate Change Committee says that 59% of the Net Zero transition is dependent on behavior change. Link Creativity brings the magic needed to make behavior change happen: Simplification. Captivation. Participation. And, for sustainability, where the details and the science are everything, the scene is set for those that do creativity and sustainability expertise well to make an enormous difference.
How climate change is framed will influence how people perceive it, and therefore what actions they are willing to take. By framing climate change as an urgent problem that requires immediate action, as well as an opportunity to create a better future rather than a sacrifice, we can motivate people to take personal action.1 Successful communication approaches speak to people’s values, frame sustainable behavior and activism as social norms, and highlight climate engagement as widespread and effective.2
People are also influenced by what they perceive as social norms. By highlighting the actions of others who are taking steps to reduce their climate impacts, in particular influencers (see Influencing The Influencers), we can encourage others to follow suit. Social norms can be established culturally, or through policies which promote pro-environmental behavior. Such policies should provide incentives and rewards for sustainable behaviors, such as tax credits or discounts for using public transport.
Ann-Christine Duhaime
How Does Cultural Change Happen?
The climate challenge is superimposed on other shifts in how humans live compared to the circumstances under which our main tool – our brain – evolved its current design. We have a tremendous amount of built-in flexibility (also called plasticity) that has enabled us to expand and adapt to new geographies, cultures, and threats over hundreds of thousands of years. Science and technology advance exponentially, as discoveries beget new discoveries; this is the basis for our rapid inventiveness and industrialization. Plasticity allowed us to invent the industrial causes of climate change before we understood the consequences. It allowed for spectacularly rapid advances in engineering, biomedical research, and information technology.
Cultural change follows scientific and technological change, and as these have increased their pace of change, culture too has changed at an accelerating rate. Some authors have hypothesized that the pace of change may have reached the limit of human adaptability. This may be another reason we cling to familiarity, experience unease with rapid changes in what is “correct” behavior, and feel general anxiety and a sense of being “unmoored”.
Climate change is for some the proverbial last straw – even the very earth and planet have become unstable, and the rhythms of seasons and relatively predictable variations in flora and fauna can no longer be relied on to calm our sense of instability. Besides the understandable phenomena of climate anxiety and depression, another reaction such distress may engender is simple climate denial. Political polarization, informational segregation, and the powerful influence of vested economic interests enhance the challenges of effective individual and collective climate action.
In communication and social sciences, frames and deep frames are concepts that help understand how people interpret information and make sense of the world. A frame refers to the mental structure that shapes the way we see things — like a lens through which we interpret information, experiences, and decisions. For example, the climate crisis could be communicated through an economic frame (in terms of the potential for green jobs, or the economic impacts of climate change), health framings (discussing air pollution in terms of its impacts on respiratory health), or moral frames (in terms of our responsibility to future generations or all forms of life).
Deep frames, on the other hand, go a step further. They are more profound, subconscious, and long-held beliefs that influence how we perceive the world. Deep frames shape our moral and value judgments and are often associated with our cultural, social, and personal identities. They are much harder to alter as they form the core of our belief system. An example of a deep frame might be a worldview that values individualism and personal responsibility over collective action, which could shape one's perspective on issues like social welfare or climate change.3
Therefore, when trying to communicate or persuade, it's not enough to just present facts. We should consider the frames and deep frames through which the audience will interpret that information. A successful message or narrative is one that aligns with or subtly shifts these frames to create understanding or change.3
While information dissemination is not enough to foster meaningful climate engagement, providing people with accurate and accessible information about climate change and its impacts can help grow understanding of the issue and the actions we can all take to address it. Most people want to take action on climate change, but simply don’t know where to start. Climate literacy can help dispel misinformation and close knowledge gaps that may be creating mental barriers to action: The UK’s Behavioural Insights Team recommends providing people with simple and easy-to-use guidance in the form of information hubs on what they can do, and how to reduce their carbon footprint. But ultimately, the behavior change necessary to meet Net Zero will necessitate an enabling environment built by businesses, markets and institutions,4 where low-carbon choices are the norm rather than the exception.
Climate communication expert Susan Joy Hassol stresses the importance of understanding that climate disruption isn't just an environmental issue, but a matter of universal concern affecting everyone's interests and values.5 A 2021 Gallup survey found that only 41 percent of Americans identify as environmentalists, and due to political polarization, climate change discussions can be contentious. However, everyone's life is touched by the climate crisis — whether they are people of faith, fishing enthusiasts, skiers, or simply consumers of foods such as coffee, chocolate, corn, and wheat. The climate crisis is also affecting people with the increasing summer heat, wildfire smoke, and other forms of extreme weather. Hassol advises using what people care about as a starting point for climate discussions, reinforcing that effective communication hinges on connecting over shared values, building trust, and finding common ground.5
Marcy Franck
How to Make Climate an Engaging Topic
Reaching people on difficult topics with content they want to engage with is a heavy lift. In four years of publishing The Climate Optimist, we’ve learned that our winning recipe includes four ingredients:
- Make it personal. Writing in the first person and including anecdotes about how we’re feeling, in addition to stories about climate progress, leads to more positive reader feedback and an uptick in subscribers.
- Use humor, because a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Research supports that humor helps people engage deeper in climate messaging, believe more strongly in climate science, and become more likely to engage in climate activism.
- Acknowledge the gravity of the moment: We make clear that climate optimism isn’t about denying what we can see with our own eyes, or ignoring our grief for what we’ve lost. It’s understanding that we know how to prevent things from getting worse and that we’re making progress.
- Share tips for managing emotions and tools for changing mindsets: Our most successful issues in terms of new subscribers, feedback, and open rates focus on policy wins and fostering hope, cultivating optimism, overcoming climate guilt, and nurturing joy.
It's possible to engage individuals who resist acknowledging human-caused climate change by approaching the conversation through a "side door". Clean energy, widely liked for co-benefits such as cleaner air and water, energy security, cost reduction, and job creation, can serve as a common ground without addressing climate change directly. Studies have demonstrated that highlighting economic benefits can effectively motivate action on climate change across political groups. Emphasizing the necessity of social support to combat climate disruption.5
Peer-to-peer dialogues have been proven to help eliminate misunderstanding about climate change and encourage the adoption of low-carbon lifestyles,6 which can be achieved organically through increasing climate literacy (see Conclusions), trusted spokespeople (see Influencing The Influencers), or approaches such as Narrative Workshops, which facilitate climate change conversations and are based on storytelling, which is a powerful way of engaging the public with climate issues (see 10).7
Place-based approaches make climate messages more relevant by connecting them to people’s daily lives and lived experiences.8 Since climate change is often not considered a day-to-day priority, communicators should address issues people already care about and that are immediate, tangible and local – from public transport, green spaces, to energy security, air pollution or flooding. There are a number of issues we can agree on without having to address climate change directly — our focus should be on the fact that by tackling climate change, we would significantly improve some of society’s most pressing issues along with it9 — and our messaging must underline how sustainable behaviors fit into this equation.10
As climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe stresses in her book Saving Us, going beyond talking about climate can sometimes be the key to capturing hard-to-reach audiences. For example, a farmer may care more about how rising temperatures might affect food production, while a community of faith may respond more positively to the notion of protecting God’s creation, rather than hard scientific facts.11 Focusing on co-benefits is another effective method to advocate for new policies. Being ‘green’ is strongly associated with being inconvenient or more expensive — in the UK, most people support Net Zero policies, but this support drops significantly once people learn about the cost associated with policies.12 Therefore, explaining the non-climate benefits of climate policies, such as reduced bills and improved health, will be crucial. We can achieve this by normalizing climate action, stressing its effectiveness and utilizing trusted messengers.
CASE STUDY
Firstlight: Delivering impactful climate communication
- Be accessible, positive and contextual: Don’t assume that your audience has a good understanding of climate issues. Use engaging spokespeople, stress the economic benefits of climate action, and avoid terminology that could be confusing or trigger negative emotions.
- Tailor your approach to different audiences: Be clear about who is being targeted, and tailor your message accordingly.
- Highlight results, not just promises: Rather than highlighting pledges, it is important to highlight meaningful progress towards targets in order to restore trust.
- Have difficult conversations: Step outside echo chambers and engage with people whose views aren’t aligned with our own. Understand their motivations and thought processes to develop effective engagement strategies.
- Challenge established rules of engagement: Climate experts often speak in terms of probabilities, while detractors speak with absolute conviction. Challenge media platform to move from confrontation to consensus, and deliver unbiased messaging on climate change.
The issues outlined in this section are compounded by the advertising industry’s current approach, which paints a picture of a “good life” in terms of status and wealth.13 Because climate change is often explained through an abstract scientific lens, most people can’t visualize what a world with 1.5 degrees, 2 or even 4 degrees of warming would look like. Climate communication experts argue that the missing ingredient in this connection is emotions, which are important determinants in risk perception (see The Psychology of Climate Change). Emotions are often ignored in both academia and policy as they are seen as “irrational”, but they may just be holding the solution to the communication conundrum, as they influence our practical and moral decision making.14
CASE STUDY
Accenture Song: Which values connect us to sustainability?15
- Care: Protecting the people, objects, and ways of life that matter
- Empowerment: Using our agency to create positive change and stand up for our values
- Openness: Exploring how things could be different in order to be content with ourselves
- Self-fulfillment: Striving to be our best selves, by pursuing physical, mental, and spiritual wellness
- Connection: Building a sense of closeness within communities, or to incentivize social comparison
- Resourcefulness: Building stability and getting the most value by maximizing resources
For those pushing for social change, it's essential to connect with people's emotions. Many groups try to get support by sharing sad stories, hoping others will also feel and care deeply. However, making people feel too sad or guilty might actually push them away instead. Research has shown that most people avoid information that makes them upset or guilty. On the other hand, positive feelings — like wonder or pride — can draw people in and make them more willing to engage, as they feel more connected to others and more open to new ideas. Another study found that people who expected to feel proud about doing something good were more likely to act than those who feared feeling guilty for not acting. When trying to motivate people to act, it's key to focus on positive emotions that align with the goal of our messaging.16
The most utilized emotion in climate change communication to date has been fear (see Is Doomism The New Delay?) — but a number of academics argue that this approach may be counterproductive. The efficacy of fear appeals versus hopeful messages in climate change communication is a contentious topic, with some research suggesting that distressing information about climate change can lead to psychological dissonance and even climate denial.17 While fear-based approaches can be effective in attracting people’s attention and creating initial engagement, they are thought to be ineffective in motivating sustained personal engagement and can have a negative impact on mental health.18 Instead, communicators should strike a balance between conveying the urgency of the climate crisis and fostering a sense of agency through highlighting solutions and ways individuals can take action beyond just behavior change. To prevent falling into either doom or complacency, communicators can use non-threatening imagery that relates to people’s everyday emotions and concerns to reduce psychological distance and promote positive engagement with climate action.19
Ross Findon
Moving Beyond Fear
The creative industries rely on attention. It is often the measure of our success, and we treat it like other industries treat resources like cotton or oil or wood, a thing to be harvested and turned into profit. And in that race for attention we have come to rely on narratives of anger, fear, and division. These are the emotions that generate the clicks on social media posts and the news article shares, but they are not the narratives that drive meaningful action.
In recent years we have seen increasing polarization and anxiety around climate change, and as communicators and creatives we must recognize our role in this. Science tells us that these states of mind paralyze rather than empower, leading us to retreat into our bubbles, the comfort of the familiar, or to avoid the issue altogether.
Now is the time to tell a new story; to create narratives built on realism, but that point to the solutions at hand and the opportunities ahead of us. It means moving forward from the indisputable ‘why’ we have established through storytelling, into the ‘how’ chapter that can turn yesterday’s anxiety into today’s action and tomorrow’s impact.
Positive, hope- and solutions-oriented framings have been found effective in engaging people in climate issues — using storytelling, humor, and cultural symbols.20 It’s important to strike a balance between communicating the urgency of the climate crisis, whilst also avoiding overly negative framings, which can lead to desensitization, disengagement, and a lack of belief in one’s self-efficacy.21 Positive framings can help sustain engagement over time, and when promoting sustainable behaviors should mention co-benefits of said behaviors. Solutions-focused framings should be combined with place-based communication approaches as well as storytelling (see The Power of Climate Storytelling).
Personal stories highlighting the impact of climate change on individuals have shown potential in driving emotional engagement with climate change by increasing worry and compassion, climate change belief, and risk perception.22 Narrative-based communication strategies can effectively foster climate change engagement by reducing perceived psychological distance to the climate crisis.18
Emotions like pride, guilt, and anger have been found to influence climate action by increasing intentions to protect the environment, willingness to repair environmental damages, and wanting to punish harmful environmental actions.23 However, emotional responses are fleeting — in one study, sadness triggered by a film clip about climate change impacts predicted time spent on a carbon footprint calculator and subsequent donations, but its impact substantially lessened with a one-hour delay between viewing the film and making the decision. In turn, the effect was restored if participants made a non-binding commitment to donate right after the film, highlighting the need to consider gaps between emotional responses and desired actions in climate change communications (see Revolutionary Hope And Optimism).24
Paddy Loughman
The ball’s in your court
Communication techniques aren’t cheating, they are the rules of the game seeking to influence human psychology. There is a lingering belief among some communicators and policymakers that using values and emotion in communications is manipulative and immoral — like cheating. They believe that making change means tending to a public information deficit, and that to ‘play fair’ we just need to educate people – give them all the facts.
This position is understandable, but misses a crucial fact: facts alone don't move people. You may have spotted the irony here: this fact does not, therefore, move those communicators. So it might help to explain this with an image. As the educator Lynell Burmark puts it: "unless our words, concepts and ideas are hooked to images, they will go in one ear and out the other." Let’s try it with a tennis racket: Communication techniques, from framing and emotive storytelling to body language and leveraging values, are not inherently immoral, and they are not cheating. They are simply how to play the game.
If you opt out of using these techniques, you are in fact opting out of the game. Like a tennis player standing on the court without a racket, somehow expecting to return a serve. If communicators want to win the game, they need the right equipment, they need a good tennis racket. This doesn't mean there isn't a moral dimension, there certainly is – it comes in the intention with which they wield the techniques.
Bad actors have been using them with intentions that most would agree are immoral – acting out of narcissism or greed, or convincing people that doing something will be in those people's best interest, when in fact it will only serve the communicator. The history of advertising and politics is full of such examples.
The way communicators then cheat is by lying. Lying is like taking a performance-enhancing drug, because lying can move faster and be more persuasive. Faster because you can make up lies faster than you can prove truths, and because if you can tell people exactly what they want to hear, then it is more likely to be shared. Just like with performance-enhancing drugs, we have to expose and protect people from lying — emphasizing the selfish, immoral intentions of the liar. We've known much of this for a long time.
Whilst facts play a role in communications, it is much more effective to lead with values and emotion. If you want to win the game of persuasion fairly, pick up the racket and play well.
The concept of warm glow, originally developed to explain prosocial behavior, suggests that people behave prosocially because of the rewarding emotional experience they get from helping others.25 This warm glow is also experienced during pro-environmental actions,26 and is a stronger motivator than anticipated practical gains such as financial savings.27 It not only acts as a reward, but also drives future pro-environmental behavior:28 the anticipation of positive emotions — particularly pride — is more effective for forming pro-environmental intentions than guilt.29 Creating opportunities to experience warm glow from pro-environmental actions could be a promising strategy to encourage more sustainable behavior.30
Advertising agency Accenture Song recommends aligning sustainability with core human values like caring, self-fulfillment, or resourcefulness, making sustainability relatable by connecting climate change concerns to personal experiences. Sustainability efforts suffer from a "Relevancy Gap", or a stark contrast between organizational approaches to sustainability and people's perception and engagement with it. This gap contributes to a disconnect, with three in five people not strongly identifying with the idea of living sustainably.31
Expressions of sustainability are diverse — people don't necessarily need to care or understand it to act sustainably, and often feel alienated by typical representations. Rather than being driven by organizations, sustainable values are cultivated socially. Even today, sustainability is often not feasible for many people — the challenge lies in making sustainability relevant and actionable, requiring a shift from "making humans more sustainable" to "making sustainability more human". Closing this gap means that our approach to sustainability and must change alongside business models.31
Effective calls to action motivate people by being clear and relevant — for a call to action to be compelling, it should be specific and easy for people to visualize and follow.16 A study by Melanie Rudd showed that achieving specific tasks, such as “increase recycling,” led participants to feel happier and more accomplished than broad ones like “support environmental sustainability” — this satisfaction increases the likelihood of future engagement.32
People also need to believe their efforts have a real impact. Paul Slovic's research indicated that individuals often feel more motivated to help one person due to perceived impact — when people believe their contribution makes a meaningful difference, they're more likely to act. He found that support often dwindles when the task seems overwhelming, and that people are more inclined to help one person — rather than a large group — as their contribution feels like having a more direct effect.33 Lastly, calls to action should be easy to incorporate into daily routines — like the Ice Bucket Challenge, which capitalized on people's daily social media use. When designing action-oriented messaging, communicators should ensure that they are precise, meaningful, and easy for the audience to engage with.16
It is crucial to recognize that effective communication is not a silver bullet in promoting sustainable behavior — we also need to heal from the decades of separation of the natural world we depend on. Connecting with nature from a young age has been shown to be a significant predictor of pro-environmental behavior in adulthood. Early and frequent interactions with the natural world foster a deep-rooted appreciation for the environment, which in turn encourages individuals to take actions that protect and preserve it. Children who engage in nature-based activities, such as hiking, camping, or simply spending time outdoors, are more likely to exhibit environmentally conscious behaviors and attitudes in their later years — this knowledge has led to the emergence of environmental and sustainability education programs, recognizing that these connections need to begin at a young age.34 Along a similar line, action needs to be taken at the policy level to ensure children and young people have adequate access to green and natural spaces, helping them to maintain physical and mental wellbeing, and building environmental awareness in everyday life.
The challenge of achieving behavior change in line with the 1.5°C temperature goal is immense, but not impossible. Social scientists are beginning to examine the potential for social tipping point interventions, which could pave the way to rapid transformative change to decarbonize our global society. Such interventions include revealing the morally harmful nature of fossil fuels and thus removing the industry’s social license; strengthening climate education and engagement; building carbon-neutral cities; and divesting from assets linked to fossil fuels. Those interventions can reinforce and magnify each other, especially with the emergency of more climate-aware generations which are becoming increasingly politically active.35
Figure 62: Values that connects us to sustainability. Source: Accenture Song.
Figure 63: Climate change news that might transmit a message of fear.
Source: TED & Clover Hogan
Source: TED & Katharina Van Bronswijk
Crafting New Climate Change Narratives
Narratives are the very essence of human communication, and have long helped us make sense of complex phenomena. This is particularly evident in discourses around climate change: From the words chosen to represent the crisis — such as 'global warming' versus 'climate change' — to the broader metaphors that define our understanding of it, the way we frame the climate crisis deeply influences public perception and action.
Keep reading- Thaler RH, Sunstein CR. Nudge: Improving Decisions about Money, Health, and the Environment. Final edition. Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC; 2021.
- Gunster S, Hackett RA. From the Front Lines to the Front Page: Environmental Advocacy, Alternative Media and Climate Politics. The International Environmental Communication Association; 2015.
- Lakoff G. Why it Matters How We Frame the Environment. Environ Commun. 2010;4(1):70-81. doi:10.1080/17524030903529749
- The Behavioural Insights Team. How to Build a Net Zero Society: Using Behavioural Insights to Decarbonise Home Energy, Transport, Food, and Material Consumption.; 2023. https://www.bi.team/publications/how-to-build-a-net-zero-society/
- Hassol SJ. The Right Words Are Crucial to Solving Climate Change. Scientific American. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0223-64
- McLoughlin N, Corner A, Clarke J, Whitmarsh L, Capstick S, Nash N. Mainstreaming Low-Carbon Lifestyles. Oxford: Climate Outreach; 2019. https://climateoutreach.org/reports/mainstreaming-low-carbon-lifestyles/
- Shaw C, Corner A. Using Narrative Workshops to socialise the climate debate: Lessons from two case studies – centre-right audiences and the Scottish public. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2017;31:273-283. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.029
- Scottish Government. Net Zero Nation: Draft Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change.; 2020. https://www.gov.scot/publications/net-zero-nation-draft-public-engagement-strategy-climate-change/
- Olano LV. Communicating the Climate Crisis. Climate-XChange. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://climate-xchange.org/communicating-the-climate-crisis/
- Axon S. “The Good Life”: Engaging the public with community-based carbon reduction strategies. Environ Sci Policy. 2016;66:82-92. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2016.08.007
- Hayhoe K. Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World. Atria/One Signal Publishers; 2022.
- Firstlight Group. Re-Thinking Climate Communications: Lessons from Deniers and Delayer. Firstlight; 2023. https://www.firstlightgroup.io/app/uploads/2023/01/Rethinking-Climate-Comms-final.pdf
- Purpose Disruptors. Good Life 2030. Purpose Disruptors. Published 2022. Accessed May 24, 2023. https://www.purposedisruptors.org/good-life-2030
- Roeser S. Risk Communication, Public Engagement, and Climate Change: A Role for Emotions: Risk Communication, Public Engagement, and Climate Change. Risk Anal. 2012;32(6):1033-1040. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.2012.01812.x
- Accenture Song. A Primer on Sustainable Communications. Published online 2022.
- Christiano A, Neimand A. The Science of What Makes People Care. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Published 2018. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_science_of_what_makes_people_care
- Feinberg M, Willer R. Apocalypse Soon?: Dire Messages Reduce Belief in Global Warming by Contradicting Just-World Beliefs. Psychol Sci. 2011;22(1):34-38. doi:10.1177/0956797610391911
- Brosch T. Affect and emotions as drivers of climate change perception and action: a review. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2021;42:15-21. doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.001
- O’Neill S, Nicholson-Cole S. “Fear Won’t Do It”: Promoting Positive Engagement With Climate Change Through Visual and Iconic Representations. Sci Commun. 2009;30(3):355-379. doi:10.1177/1075547008329201
- Besci F. Lessons in change from social movements. Published May 27, 2022. Accessed May 23, 2023. https://www.frontlinebesci.com/p/daring-to-be-transformational
- Axon S. The socio-cultural dimensions of community-based sustainability: Implications for transformational change. J Clean Prod. 2020;266:121933. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121933
- Gustafson A, Ballew MT, Goldberg MH, Cutler MJ, Rosenthal SA, Leiserowitz A. Personal Stories Can Shift Climate Change Beliefs and Risk Perceptions: The Mediating Role of Emotion. Commun Rep. 2020;33(3):121-135. doi:10.1080/08934215.2020.1799049
- Harth NS, Leach CW, Kessler T. Guilt, anger, and pride about in-group environmental behaviour: Different emotions predict distinct intentions. J Environ Psychol. 2013;34:18-26. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.12.005
- Schwartz D, Loewenstein G. The Chill of the Moment: Emotions and Proenvironmental Behavior. J Public Policy Mark. 2017;36(2):255-268. doi:10.1509/jppm.16.132
- Andreoni J. Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving. Econ J. 1990;100(401):464. doi:10.2307/2234133
- Taufik D, Bolderdijk JW, Steg L. Acting green elicits a literal warm glow. Nat Clim Change. 2015;5(1):37-40. doi:10.1038/nclimate2449
- Taufik D, Bolderdijk JW, Steg L. Going green? The relative importance of feelings over calculation in driving environmental intent in the Netherlands and the United States. Energy Res Soc Sci. 2016;22:52-62. doi:10.1016/j.erss.2016.08.012
- Hartmann P, Eisend M, Apaolaza V, D’Souza C. Warm glow vs. altruistic values: How important is intrinsic emotional reward in proenvironmental behavior? J Environ Psychol. 2017;52:43-55. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.05.006
- Schneider CR, Zaval L, Weber EU, Markowitz EM. The influence of anticipated pride and guilt on pro-environmental decision making. PLOS ONE. 2017;12(11):e0188781. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188781
- Chatelain G, Hille SL, Sander D, Patel M, Hahnel UJJ, Brosch T. Feel good, stay green: Positive affect promotes pro-environmental behaviors and mitigates compensatory “mental bookkeeping” effects. J Environ Psychol. 2018;56:3-11. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.02.002
- Accenture Song. Our Human Moment. Published online March 2023. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document/Accenture-Our-Human-Moment-31-Mar-2023.pdf
- Rudd M, Aaker JL, Norton MI. Getting the Most Out of Giving: Pursuing Concretely-Framed Prosocial Goals Maximizes Happiness. SSRN Electron J. Published online 2013. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2259318
- Slovic P. If I look at the mass I will never act. Judgm Decis Mak. 2007;2.
- Rosa CD, Profice CC, Collado S. Nature Experiences and Adults’ Self-Reported Pro-environmental Behaviors: The Role of Connectedness to Nature and Childhood Nature Experiences. Front Psychol. 2018;9. Accessed September 5, 2023. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01055
- Lenferna A, Otto IM, Donges J. How social “tipping points” could limit global warming. The Conversation. Published January 30, 2020. Accessed May 23, 2023. http://theconversation.com/how-social-tipping-points-could-limit-global-warming-130309
