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New analysis from Climate Barometer reveals more than half of Britons say they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ share their opinions on climate change in everyday conversations.
New analysis from Climate Barometer reveals a ‘climate of silence’ exists in the UK — with 56% saying they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ share their opinions on climate change in everyday conversations with family, friends, colleagues or other acquaintances.
The data — covered in the Guardian — shows despite majority-level support for solid climate action in the UK, many people remain hesitate to talk about climate change in their daily lives.
The most common response across all UK adults was to ‘rarely’ share climate opinions with others — over a third (38%) said this, adding further weight to the idea there is a ‘spiral of silence’ on climate topics in the UK. Just one in ten (11%) say they regularly express their climate views, including those who say they share their climate opinions either ‘most of the time’ (8%) or ‘all of the time’ (3%)
A ‘silent majority’ amongst climate advocates
This silence is notable even amongst climate action advocates. Among the 63% of the British public who support the 2050 net zero target, half tend to stay silent or quiet on climate issues. In fact, 50% of net zero supporters say they either ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ share their opinions, with ‘rarely’ again being the most common response (37%).
Just over a third (36%) of net zero supporters say they share their climate views ‘some of the time’. Very few net zero backers say they share their opinions ‘all of the time’ (4%) or ‘most of the time’ (10%).
A similar pattern was also seen amongst those who say they support local renewables projects. Amongst the 73% of Britons who say they would support a new solar energy park being built in their local area, the majority (51%) say they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ talk about climate change with people they encounter week-to-week. This was the same amongst the 69% who say they would support a new onshore wind farm being built in their local area half (51%) saying they ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ share their opinions about climate issues with others.
How climate opinion shapes the silence
When looking at political segments, Green Party voters (in the 2024 general election) were the most likely to say they share their climate opinions ‘most of the time’ or ‘all of the time’ (25%) — more than double the wider UK average (11%).
However, across both net zero supporters and opposers, it was people with more moderate views — the 44% of the British public who either ‘somewhat’ support or oppose the target – who were the least likely to speak out about their views. Nearly half of those who ‘somewhat support’ the 2050 net zero target (45%) and just over half of those who ‘somewhat oppose’ the target (53%) say they ‘rarely’ share their opinions about climate change – compared to 38% among the general public who say this.
Reform voters said they were less vocal as well, perhaps due to their divergent levels of support around climate issues (and given the question focused on climate, rather than net zero views). They were more likely to say they ‘never’ share their views (22%) and a majority of this group (61%) say they either ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ share views on climate change. Among the 26% of Britons who oppose the 2050 net zero target, 62% say they either ‘rarely’ (43%) or ‘never’ (19%) share their opinions.
Together this suggests that people who support for net zero speak up more often on climate issues, while also signalling a gap between media attacks and public discourse amongst the more oppositional spheres — but overall, silence is the norm.
Breaking the silence
Closing perception gaps could be crucial to breaking the ‘spiral of silence’. As Climate Barometer analysis continues to show, people tend to underestimate the high levels of support for net zero and climate action in the UK, maintaining the incorrect belief of being ‘in the minority’.
Research shows that speaking up and sharing support for climate action with other people can play a key role in shifting norms on climate issues. But this is just one piece of the puzzle. An overwhelming majority of the public also say they want to be actively engaged when it comes to decisions about this transition — and there are many evidence-based resources showing how to achieve this.
Without a diversity of approaches to empower the quiet majority to share their views, the loudest and most oppositional narratives could fill the void.
Climate change didn’t cause the culture wars, but culture wars are making climate change harder to solve.
In new research from Kings College London (KCL), divisions over climate change are seen as worse than divisions over Brexit, with the public more likely to say there is tension between climate change sceptics and believers (64%) than between Leavers and Remainers (52%), or between younger and older generations (45%).
This is despite the broad-based consensus on the importance of the issue that Climate Barometer data evidences, and which is seen consistently in wider research (e.g. the recent Britain Talks Climate & Nature report, which highlights widespread care for nature, wildlife and the benefits that the transition to clean, renewable energy can bring).
More new research (from Hope Not Hate) diving into the differences between people who intend to vote Reform highlights climate change as one of the dividing lines among a disjointed coalition of factions. ‘Squeezed Stewards’ (in an echo of More in Common’s ‘Rooted Patriots’ segment, who have high levels of threat perception around environmental risks) care about nature and acknowledge the climate crisis. But the ‘Hardline Conservatives’ subgroup of Reform backers are much more likely to be in the minority of people who reject action on climate change entirely.
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