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The UK is already experiencing serious climate impacts, including floods, storms, heatwaves and droughts. The 2015-16 winter floods alone cost the UK an estimated £1.6bn, and summer 2022 saw temperatures exceed 40C for the first time, resulting in the highest number of UK deaths from heat extremes.
The number of people who recognise that climate change is happening ‘here and now’ has steadily risen.
But despite more and more extreme weather events taking place, a sense of disconnection remains in the UK: heatwaves continue to be represented in the media as positive occurrences, and the government’s advisers on adapting to climate change have repeatedly warned that the country is poorly prepared for the increased risks from floods, extreme heat, and storms.
Few will have failed to notice global changes in extreme weather: floods wreaking destruction in Pakistan and North Africa; unprecedented wildfires in Canada.
But are opinions keeping pace with a rapidly changing climate?
In the face of rising climate impacts, UK-based researchers are calling for more measures that simultaneously tackle the root causes of climate change, while enabling society to adapt.
Efforts to tackle climate change have tended to prioritise mitigation (reducing emissions) over adaptation efforts (reducing vulnerabilities), and these two broad types of measures are often split across government departments, such as Defra and DESNZ in the UK.
But new research, using the UK’s record-breaking 40C heatwave in 2022 as a case study, has found clear demands for national and local governments to roll out measures that combine mitigation and adaptation.
Policy-makers, climate organisations, and those working in emergency response felt that approaches – such as creating climate-resilient neighbourhoods, tree-planting and other nature-based solutions – should be a priority, given their dual benefits. They felt efforts to combine emissions reductions and adaptation have challenges, but were feasible, with better coordination.
The new analysis also suggests that framing these efforts as part of working towards a ‘climate resilient net zero’ can be a useful way of engaging a range of relevant audiences and decision-makers – building on existing support for net zero.
The study findings are supported by Climate Barometer tracker insights, which shows that both the public and MPs feel mitigation and adaptation are equally important. It also echoes previous work which found that the public view mitigation and adaptation as “two sides of the same coin”.
The National Trust – with a huge portfolio of land and historic properties that faces a wide range of risks from a changing climate – has released a report which includes a call for a new Climate Resilience Bill, putting adaptation on the same footing as mitigation (which they argue has a ‘unifying focus’ on net zero).
Research shows that people beyond specialist circles do not make a clear distinction between mitigation and adaptation, and see worsening climate impacts as one of the most motivating reasons for decarbonising faster. When asked directly whether the UK government should prioritise adaptation or mitigation, the most popular answer (around half of the survey respondents) in a 2020 poll was that both should be of equal focus.
A new report explores the personal experiences of climate change by people of colour in the UK.
Charles Ogunbode and colleagues report that awareness (and reported experience) of climate change is high: 92% of British people of colour believe that climate change is happening, 61% report experiencing impacts of climate change, and 85% are really worried about the impact of climate change in places other than the UK.
The impacts of climate change experienced by British people of colour in the UK include heat waves (over 60%), severe snow disruptions (25%) and flooding in their local area (20%).
Beyond self-reported experiences of extreme weather, some disproportionate effects of climate change are harder to document – the report notes that London’s Black African and Caribbean population are the most exposed to air pollution, which causes approximately 40,000 deaths per year in the UK, and contributes to many adverse health conditions.
Reviewing research on climate adaptation behaviours, a report prepared by the CAST centre for the Climate Change Committee concluded that most people know very little about how they can prepare for changes such as extreme heat, droughts, or flooding. The authors highlight that it is important for politicians to clearly communicate what types of behaviours are most effective in preparing for a changing climate, and provide advice tailored to the type of risk, alongside other measures like financial incentives for homeowners.
June-August 2023 was the “warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 16.77°C, 0.66°C above average.” In addition “August 2023 was the warmest August on record globally, and warmer than all other months except July 2023”.
A paper by researchers in the USA has tested narratives about climate change and migration. They found that:
…reading about climate-induced immigration (vs. immigration not linked to climate change) did not change participants’ climate concerns or climate policy support. Instead, reading about climate-induced immigration resulted in more negative attitudes toward immigrants.
The research matches similar findings across the UK and Europe showing that attitudes towards migration can’t be used as a ‘tool’ to boost climate concern (and many argue on ethical grounds that the link shouldn’t be ‘weaponised’ in this way). At best they have no impact on climate policy support, and at worst, they can backfire by increasing anti-immigration sentiment.
A new research paper provides insights and guidance on heat risk communication and behaviour change. The authors write:
“There are a range of behaviours that people might take to avoid the negative impacts of heatwaves and very hot weather – these can involve personal protective actions during heat events (such as using a fan, adapting your clothing), preparative measures (e.g. adapting your household by installing blinds or shutters), as well as other actions like seeking out more information, temporarily moving location, or engaging in political action.
Research shows that a very broad range of factors can influence people’s engagement with heat risks. People’s perceptions and behaviours about heat can be influenced by contextual factors (like their location, their physical environment, demographics, socio-cultural influences), as well as personal level factors (like their knowledge and awareness of risks, past experiences of heat, or pre-existing health conditions).
Communication about heat risks can do much to draw on these influences, including tailoring warning messages to resonate with personal factors, drawing on the role of trusted messengers and clearly attributing risks to climate change.”
According to a poll commissioned by the British Red Cross, four in five people (81%) don’t know where to get information on floods from, and one-in-seven people were aware of what actions to take in response to a flood. This is despite nearly 2 million people across the UK currently live in areas at significant risk of flooding – a number that could double by the 2050s.
According to research on the media coverage of European heatwaves in 2019, the images appearing in news media about heatwaves and extreme heat generally depict people having “fun in the sun”, across the UK, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. People were depicted having fun in or near water, and enjoying the weather. When images did show the dangers of heat extremes, people were generally absent.
The authors highlight this is a problematic way of showing heatwaves, because it removes the human element of extreme heat risk, and marginalises the experiences of those who are particularly vulnerable.
Grounded in an analysis of the online discourse around the sweltering summer of 2022 in the UK, ACT Climate Labs issued guidance for anticipating and responding to misinformation around extreme weather, as well as engaging the ‘Persuadable’ 60% of the population who are neither highly engaged nor antagonistic towards climate action.
Echoing earlier work by Climate Outreach around flood risks and communication, ACT Climate Labs recommend not focusing too much on climate during a heatwave (this can be off-putting or appear judgmental/spoiling people’s positive experiences of warmer weather) but using the period of increased climate salience that follows extreme weather to engage audiences then.
Making sense of public opinion on climate impacts
People increasingly understand climate change as happening in the ‘here and now’. But there is a long way to go before the severity of climate risks is fully appreciated, and people are fully supported in preparing for and adapting to impacts.