An object lesson in how public opinion responds if care is not taken to frame climate change messages appropriately for their target audience can be found in recent experience of the UK Government’s ‘Act on CO2′ campaign

Many governments need to persuade their citizens to think about climate change as a serious and urgent issue needing action, and that government policies offer solutions for climate change that merit their support. The UK experience provides a cautionary tale… more detail...

The UK public is among the most sceptical about climate change in Europe. An Ipsos Mori poll (2008) showed that 60% of citizens doubt there is scientific consensus about the causes of climate change, and in the 2009 Eurobarometer survey only 47% of UK citizens ranked climate change as the world’s most serious problem, placing the UK 19th out of 27 EU nations in this respect.

A video released as part of the UK government’s £6 million ‘Act on CO2′ public information campaign about climate change was intended to convey the importance of individuals acting now to reduce their CO2 emissions for the benefit of future generations. It featured a father reading a story about climate change to his daughter.

The video seems to have had a negative impact on public opinion as it has generated 700 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which has banned it from being screened before 9pm and is launching a full investigation into the complaints.

Climate change is a complex issue and it seems likely that insufficient care was taken in the framing the video for its target audience.

More detail and analysis at

http://climatechangepriorities.blogspot.com/2009/11/act-on-co2-public-opinion-and-bed-time.html

Tags: climate change, climate goals, public opinion, EU priorities and opinion, Act on CO2, InfoSociety,

Climate change now ranks only third amongst the issues that Europeans consider to be the world’s most serious problem.

The most serious global Issue is seen as ‘poverty, the lack of food and drinking water’ with the global economic downturn now ranking second.

The Eurobarometer survey of Europeans’ attitudes towards climate change showed that in early 2009 50% of Europeans saw climate change as the world’s greatest problem but this represents a decline in importance compared with the 2008 EU survey when 62% of Europeans expressed that view.

The Eurobarometer environment survey of 2007 reported that 57% of citizens placed climate change as top environmental concern, an increase compared with 24% in 2004.

UK citizens are currently amongst the most sceptical about climate change in Europe. In early 2009 51% of UK citizens considered it to be a serious issue compared with 67% for the EU as a whole, but 17% of UK citizens said that climate change is not a serious problem, contrasting with 10% for the EU as a whole.

That Europeans apparently feel that climate change is less important than they did previously is an apparent paradox when information about climate change figures prominently in the news in the run up to COP15 Copenhagen.

In 2009 more than half of Europeans said that they felt well informed about the cause, consequences and methods of fighting climate change (although there are quite wide national variations).

It had been suggested that the world financial crisis being the top news issue in late 2008-9 may have affected the public perception of important world issues including climate change.

However there may be more significant factors underlying apparent decline in interest in what is a major threat to all humanity.

Embedded in humans’ psychology is a response to threats that are immediate and personal. Climate change as a threat seems large, but diffuse and remote and lacking immediate personal impacts.

Climate change fails to trigger the ‘fight and flight’ response with which humans are programed to respond to threats. Indeed if the threat is seen as too large and complex for solution at a local, human scale it may invoke feelings of helplessness be dismissed as insoluble.

European citizens may say that they are well informed about climate change, but feeling that an individual cannot make a difference may engender a business as usual response and declining interest in climate change as an issue.

More analysis at http://climatechangepriorities.blogspot….

Posted by Icenian 02 November 09

The European Council needs to agree a finance package to meet developing countries climate change needs, and to do so before COP15 in Copenhagen.

How the costs of the package will be divided between European nations is a contentious issue. Solidarity is a European tradition, and in the face of the urgent need to act to mitigate climate change, newer EU Member States should reflect on this. Within the EU equity can be served by each country contributing to the finance package for developing nations according to their means.

The issue of a climate change finance package for developing countries was deferred from the previous European Council meeting and has remained unresolved at the recent meeting of the European Finance ministers (ECOFIN).

If European nations cannot agree amongst themselves the chances of a global climate change agreement post-2012 look poor.

Finance for developing nations is a key issue which will bear heavily on the success or failure in the COP15 negotiations in Copenhagen.

EU claims to world leader status in combating climate change cannot rest solely on assertions of targets for EU emissions reductions.

Agreement on an EU finance package to help developing countries would seem to be a prerequisite for EU credibility in Copenhagen.

The text of 29-30 October European Council agenda item on climate change reads as follows

II. Climate change
The European Council will take stock of preparations for the Copenhagen conference on climate
change, in particular on the basis of the preparatory work conducted by the ECOFIN and the
Environment Councils of 20 and 21 October. It will take the appropriate decisions, including on all
aspects of financing, required to ensure a successful outcome in Copenhagen.

A bold decision by EU leaders – agreement on a finance package for developing nations’ climate change needs at this European Council meeting, is vital.

It will have a major influence on the outcomes in Copenhagen, and the reputation of the EU.

More at:

http://climatechangepriorities.blogspot.com/2009/10/financing-developing-countries-climate.html