This paper is a short commentary that aim is to draw lessons from vaccine hesitancy research and apply them to climate change risk communication. Our central argument was that achieving net-zero carbon emissions will fail if it focuses only on technological solutions and ignores public trust, engagement, and behaviour. Drawing on experience from COVID-19 vaccination programmes, we highlight three key lessons: the need to actively engage the public rather than assume compliance, the importance of trusted messengers (such as healthcare professionals and community leaders), and the value of humanising abstract risks through stories and lived experience rather than relying solely on statistics. In essence, the piece argues that climate action is as much a social and psychological challenge as a technical one, and that policymakers would do well to treat climate communication with the same care and attention as public health vaccination campaigns.
Update: We wrote it in the winter of 2020, and I’ve got to say I feel we nailed some of the net-zero lack of trust narrative that we’ve seen in recent years.
Read the full article here: Paterson, P., & Clarke, R. M. (2021). Climate change risk communication: a vaccine hesitancy perspective. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(4), e179-e180.
Richard M Clarke (PhD) 