News

The FT published our letter on why the Greens ‘ecopopulism’ is in tune with British voters, and how their recent by-election success signals a shift in climate communication.

Our analysis (with Climate Outreach) of Green Party leaflets since Zack Polanski became leader shows explicit references to climate change are rare. Across more than 40 pages, “climate change” appears only once, while words like “local,” “people,” and “community” appear far more often. Climate and nature policies are instead framed through everyday concerns such as energy bills, transport, local services, and green spaces.

Carbon Brief featured our data and analysis in its Debriefed newsletter, examining whether there is really a “greenlash” against climate policy in the UK following the Green Party’s historic byelection win.

On public support for net zero, Climate Barometer’s Adam Corner noted that people who currently plan to vote Reform are the only group that “tend to be more opposed to net-zero goals”. He said: “Despite the rise in hostile media coverage and the collapse of the political consensus, we find that public support for the net-zero by 2050 target is plateauing – not plummeting.”

Our latest ‘Signal in the Noise’ publication, that monitors and makes sense of patterns and trends in opinion on climate change, is now live.

This year’s edition drew on our tracker of MP and public opinion, a novel social listening analysis by digital researcher Ed Harrison (University of Bath/Horizon Intelligence), and a synthesis of wider published research.

It focuses on 6 important trends from 2025 that we think defined the year in public opinion on climate change (and which will guide public engagement in the year ahead).

We celebrated the new edition with a webinar launch that saw an attendance of 150+ and included insights from the Climate Barometer team, plus Ed Harrison, Rachael Orr (Climate Outreach) and Claire Brown (Larger Us).

Climate Barometer data was included in a piece by Dr James Painter in The Conversation, alongside new research commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit that examines how “net zero” is increasingly discussed separately from “climate change” in UK media coverage. Analysing more than 73,000 articles across nine outlets, the research found that the two terms – once closely linked – are becoming more detached.

Climate Barometer’s data is cited to show evidence of public confusion around the term “net zero”, with 22% of respondents incorrectly believing it meant producing no carbon emissions at all, rising to 41% among those who support Reform UK.

The story was also covered by Euronews.

15 December 2025

Business Green covered the latest instalment of our climate opinion tracker, which found that support for renewables is significantly underestimated, by both the British public and MPs.

Our tracker shows that 70% of Britons say they would support a local solar park, yet only 27% think their neighbours would. Similarly, 42% of MPs think local people would be more likely to oppose than support a solar farm.

Our data also found that despite a sense of national division, people of all ages and backgrounds in the UK show broad agreement on what matters most when infrastructure is proposed in their area — the project’s impact on the local environment (51%), energy bills (44%), and the local community (41%).

The public and MPs also align on what would most increase support for renewables: energy bill discounts for nearby households and new local jobs/apprenticeships.

On December 15th we’re hosting an online event to explore the latest wave of findings from our opinion tracker.

1 November 2025

Gordon Brown, the UN’s special envoy for global education and UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010, wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian urging renewed global leadership on climate change. He calls on leaders who recognise the urgency of the crisis to use Brazil’s hosting of COP30 to build a coalition of countries committed to confronting climate denial.

Reflecting on how political leadership is being tested amid geopolitical uncertainty and climate peril, Brown cites Climate Barometer data showing widespread concern in the UK that not enough is being done. Our data reveals that a majority of the public believe the government should do more to tackle climate change. MPs are more divided, with similar proportions saying the government should do more or is doing the right amount, while very few MPs or members of the public think it should do less.

3 October 2025 

In a piece for The Big Issue, Lottie Elton cites Climate Barometer data to show that public opinion tells a different story from political attacks on climate policy.

Despite talk of scrapping the Climate Change Act by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, Climate Barometer data shows that two in three Britons (63%) still back the UK’s net zero target for 2050, while an even larger majority support climate action.

29 September 2025

Our Researcher Luisa Melloh wrote an opinion piece for Business Green, about how less affluent households could stand to gain the most from net zero, yet they’re also the least likely to believe these policies will make a difference to their lives.

Only 11% of people on the lowest incomes say net zero is improving their lives, compared with 33% of people on medium income. Regionally too, the benefits are felt unevenly, with London far ahead of many other parts of the UK.

When benefits aren’t visible, doubt and disengagement can grow, leaving space for net zero to be framed as a burden rather than an opportunity.

In her piece, Luisa outlines how to put lower-income communities at the heart of net zero. This includes trialling and showcasing low-carbon solutions in low to middle income areas, involving lower-income communities in shaping net zero policies, and amplifying the stories of people directly in communities driving positive local change.

17 September 2025

New Climate Barometer data, featured in Business Green and released during Trump’s UK visit, shows that 3 out of 5 Britons (57%) believe the UK government should work more closely with other countries to address climate change, despite the White House withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for a second time.

In contrast, just 1 in 5 think the UK should “step back internationally” and focus solely on domestic climate action.

Support for greater international cooperation is supported across political divides: Labour (88%), Lib Dems (81%), and Conservatives (51%) all endorse the UK government working with other countries on climate change. Reform backers are the only exception, where the preferred option (41%) is for the UK government to step back internationally and focus on domestic action.

The data was also covered by the POLITICO‘s Energy and Climate newsletter.

6 August 2025

In an opinion piece for The Conversation, CAST’s Bella Zanin cites Climate Barometer’s recent polling showing that over half of British adults rarely or never talk about climate change. She notes this matters because conversations shape social norms, and social norms shape behaviour.

Climate Barometer data found that 56% of Brits say they “rarely” or “never” share their opinions about climate change in day-to-day life, and only one in ten regularly express their climate views. This “climate silence” persists even among supporters of environmental policies.

14 July 2025

Our Co-Director Niall McLoughlin wrote an opinion piece for Climate Home News, following the State of the UK Climate report that showed extreme weather is becoming the new normal in the UK, with record-breaking temperatures happening more often.

In his piece, Niall looks at why better communication is crucial to preparing people for extreme heat and highlights the urgent need to close gaps in public understanding of the risks and how to stay safe.

He argues for the urgent need to improve how heat risks are conveyed and calls for three key improvements: using social research to tailor communication, focusing on year-round preparation instead of just short-term coping, and closing perception gaps where vulnerable people underestimate risks.

9 July 2025

Climate Barometer was mentioned as part of The Guardian’s coverage of the UK’s largest-ever climate lobbies organised by the Climate Coalition, where thousands gathered in Westminster to meet their MPs and demand urgent climate action to protect their communities.

The article features Climate Barometer’s latest data, which found that although strong support for climate action exists, only 1 in 10 Britons (11%) regularly voice their views with friends, family, colleagues and others they meet week-to-week. Many mistakenly think they’re in the minority, contributing to a “spiral of silence” around climate issues..

Speaking on the issue, our  Co-Director Niall McLoughlin explains that one factor contributing to this hesitation could be “perception gaps”, where people believe their views on climate issues are not shared by others, and says that sharing support for climate action with people we meet can play a key role in driving forward change.

15 May 2025

Business Green covered the latest instalment of our public opinion tracker, which found that despite all the noise, public backing for net zero remains solid.

More than two-thirds of Britons (63%) support the UK’s 2050 net zero goal. However, confusion about what net zero actually means is widespread—especially among Reform Party supporters, many of whom misunderstand the term.

Amidst the noise, the “why” for climate action has been notably absent. To maintain support, we need to reconnect net zero with what matters most to people — from protecting nature to securing a better future for the next generation.

The story was also covered by the FT’s Sustainable Views as part of their ‘Weekly News and Views’ column.

2 May 2025

Climate Barometer’s climate impacts data has been featured in FT’s Sustainable Views as part of a wider piece around the need to maintain momentum on climate action, with public support remaining strong even amid political uncertainty.

It draws on our data to show that the UK public is increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change and wants clearer communication and stronger action on climate risks.

30 April 2025

Climate Barometer has been part of an important national conversation this week, as the Climate Change Committee (CCC) released its latest report on the UK’s progress in adapting to climate change.

Our co-director, Niall McLoughlin spoke to Business Green about how most people feel the UK isn’t ready for climate impacts, and that we urgently need to improve how we talk about risks and support communities to adapt.

22 April 2025

The Guardian interviewed our Co-Director Niall McLoughlin for two articles (news story and feature piece) focused on how mobilizing the “silent majority”, the many who support climate action but feel alone in their views, could drive faster political and systemic change.

Despite 89% global support for stronger climate measures, a “spiral of silence” makes people think they’re in the minority. Niall explains that closing this perception gap can boost climate momentum. The article also features Climate Barometer tracker data, showing UK MPs consistently underestimate public backing for onshore wind farms.

The story was covered by Business Green and syndicated in the Rolling Stone Magazine, EcoWatch and various other national and international publications.

On March 20th we’re hosting an online event in collaboration with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) focusing on climate-friendly diet.

Together with expert panelists from the Climate Change Committee, Eating Better Alliance and Hubbub, we will explore the latest public opinion research on low-carbon food choices, and consider some of the wider changes that could help reduce diet-related emissions in the UK.

As part of the event, we will be launching a new resource that brings together the latest opinion insights on diet and food, and tells the ‘data story’ of this topic over recent years.

18 February 2025

Climate Barometer’s climate impacts data, which found that more than three-quarters of people think the UK is not prepared to deal with flooding and the other extreme weather driven by climate change, has been featured in The Ecologist.

15 January 2025

Climate Barometer’s latest data on climate impacts was covered by The Independent,  which revealed that majority of the UK public are highly concerned about flooding and think the nation is not making good progress on tackling climate impacts.

In total, 78% felt that the UK was either ‘Not very prepared’ or ‘Not prepared at all’ to deal with climate change impacts, including extreme weather events. Only 13% felt the country was ‘Fairly prepared’ and just 1% said ‘Very prepared’. 8% said they didn’t know.

The story was also covered by a number of daily and regional UK newspapers.

11 December 2024

Our new publication ‘Signal in the Noise’ tracks trends in public opinion from the 2023 Uxbridge by-election to the first 100 days of Labour, set against the evolution of online narratives captured by ACT Climate Labs.

Our online launch event on December 11 (which saw close to 100 people attend) featured speakers from Climate Barometer capturing the past ‘15 months in 15 minutes’ plus discussion and analysis from ACT Climate Labs, and The Local Storytelling Exchange.

8 November 2024

Our co-director Susie Wang wrote a piece for politics.co.uk, arguing that name-calling over concerns about local power projects not only dismisses and shuts down legitimate worries, but can lead to people doubling down on their initial reactions, further cementing divisions.

In her piece, Susie explores what actively involving the community in decision-making processes around renewable energy projects actually means.

12 August 2024

The Independent covered the latest instalment of our climate opinion tracker, which found that there’s been a clear uptick in support for net zero after two years of remaining at roughly the same level.

After consistently hovering between 69% and 71% for two years, in July this rose to nearly three-quarters (74%) of people backing the policy of cutting the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

The story was also syndicated in The Standard.

8 August 2024

Our Co-Director Adam Corner wrote an opinion piece for Business Green, discussing pylons, power lines and the importance of community engagement around energy infrastructure.

He argues that it is up to the government, the energy industry, local authorities and civil society to have the right community engagement infrastructure in place. And that if engaged early enough in the process, community questions and concerns can be understood as ‘conditions of acceptance’, not opposition to be overcome.

26 September 2024

Our co-director Adam chaired an Inter Narratives event alongside speakers Alex Randall, Suzanne Dhaliwal and Russell Warfield to explore what makes for powerful, effective climate communication and why?

The conversation explored lessons learned from campaigns, case studies of climate communication that have really landed, and examples that really haven’t.

2 July 2024

People of colour in the UK are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts. But despite this, there remains a lack of research around diversity experience and engagement with climate change.

This new report in collaboration with Charles Ogunbode and The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) explores how people of colour in the UK experience, perceive and engage with climate change and climate policy, drawing together initial insights from two recent datasets.

Together, the report outlines why we need greater diversity in climate campaigns and better representation in opinion research, with recommendations for campaigners, researchers and funders.