Skip to main content
  • Overview
  • Dec '23
    COP28 calls for “transition away from fossil fuels”. Does the UK public agree?
  • CAAD report: A rise in violent language used online to describe protesters in 2023
  • Nov '23
    Comment: Are international climate negotiations on the public’s radar?
  • Carbon Brief resource: Who wants what at the COP28 climate change summit?
  • Ipsos MORI polling ahead of COP28 shows limited public confidence that conference commitments will lead to climate action
Tag

COP28

Filter content Please note: The page will automatically update when any filters are changed or set.
    Media Insight 14th December 2023

    CAAD report: A rise in violent language used online to describe protesters in 2023

    In an analysis of the language used to describe climate activists on a range of social media platforms in 2022 and 2023, Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) identified a rise in labels such as “extremists”, “lunatics” or even “terrorists”. The analysis found that allusions to violence on social media appear to be increasing, particularly in comment sections. Key findings included:

    • On X (formerly Twitter): Over 220,000 posts included ‘loaded’ language such as “climate cult” and over 90,000 posts and replies contained ‘securitised’ language such as “eco terrorist”. While the overall volume of posts remained stable over the past two years, we found that replies containing ‘securitised’, ‘dehumanising’ or ‘othering’ language have more than doubled. Specifically, references to “climate cultists” and “eco-terrorists” feature prominently in high-traction posts about protests.
    • On Facebook and Instagram: Posts containing denigrating language were shared a cumulative 1.86 million times in the timeframe. Language like “climate lunatic”, “eco extremist”, “green zealot” or “Net Zero terrorist” features in over 68,000 posts across both platforms.
    • On TikTok: TikTok’s relatively stringent moderation has led to a culture of coded violence that uses devices like dog whistles and irony to evade detection. For example, one post with over 80,000 likes shares footage of climate protesters alongside a clip of the video game Grand Theft Auto – a game well-known for allowing players to run over pedestrians. Even ostensibly ‘neutral’ content around climate activism or protests sees violent rhetoric emerge in the comments, often receiving thousands of likes.

    This kind of online discourse is troubling. And on social media platforms with large numbers of users, shares can quickly add up, so the views of an angry minority can spread quickly.

    Offline, although public attitudes towards disruptive protest groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil are generally not positive, opinion data shows the UK public evenly split on whether campaigners are ‘out of touch’ with the rest of the country.

    So although public opinion isn’t altogether favourable towards protesters, the violent language documented by CAAD is likely to be more ‘out of touch’ with mainstream popular opinion, than the actions of the protesters themselves.

     

    • Author: Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD)
    • Date: 5th December 2023
    Policy Insight 21st November 2023

    Carbon Brief resource: Who wants what at the COP28 climate change summit?

    Carbon Brief has produced an interactive table of ‘who wants what’ from the COP28 UN climate change negotiations, searchable by topic and across different negotiating groups.

    Opinion Insight 15th November 2023

    Ipsos MORI polling ahead of COP28 shows limited public confidence that conference commitments will lead to climate action

    In polling commissioned by the Press Association, ahead of COP28 in Dubai, Ipsos MORI asked people whether they thought the commitments made at the event would lead to climate action.

    47% believed this was unlikely, whilst only 17% gave a more optimistic answer.

    These finding reflect a sense of cynicism that was present before last year’s event in Egypt (which Rishi Sunak eventually attended, but was criticised for initially avoiding), and strikingly low levels of trust in politicians on climate issues.

    To the extent that this level of detail registers with public audiences (the same IPSOS poll found only 32% will follow the news around COP28 closely this year, and 61% would not follow the event’s progress), the optics and contradictions of a city famous for its oil-wealth hosting the UN’s flagship climate event is also likely to be playing a role in muting public expectations about the credibility of the conference.

    • Source: The Independent
    • Author: Press Association/Ipsos MORI
    • Date: 3rd November 2023

Add Feedback