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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.
Its well established that the UK climate sector is very unrepresentative in terms of ethnic diversity – but climate opinion data is too often under-representative too.
Only around 1 in 20 people working in environmental charities identify as a person of colour, and campaigns often fail to reach diverse audiences.
At the same time, many ‘nationally representative’ survey samples either don’t contain high enough numbers of appropriate quotas for people of colour, or do not report them. When they do, the numbers tend to be too low to make meaningful comparisons. The voices and perspectives of people of colour should be central to the UK climate discourse, but too often they are not, whether through a lack of representation in opinion data, or a lack of representation in the climate sector itself.
People of colour in the UK are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts, but there is a paucity of research around their experience of and engagement with climate change. The Spotlight report, published by a team led by Dr Charles Ogunbode at the University of Nottingham in 2023, was astonishingly the first dedicated exploration of the views and perspectives of British people of colour on climate change through a large-scale survey.
In a collaboration with Dr Ogunbode and the centre for Climate Change & Social Transformations (CAST), Climate Barometer re-analysed some of the Spotlight data, along with recent data from the annual CAST ‘climate views’ survey, in order to provide some preliminary findings around ethnicity and engagement with climate change.
These initial analysis suggests that people of colour in the UK are likely to have experienced a range of climate impacts personally, see climate change as a serious, urgent threat, and express high levels of support for ambitious climate policies. However, the current evidence base is very limited and sample sizes don’t allow for robust comparisons to be made between different minority ethnic and racial groups. So there’s a real need for more insights to better guide campaigns and strategies – something that forms the central call of the report.
Survey samples which are representative of ethnicity matter on their own terms. But improving diversity in climate engagement (and the climate movement) requires more attention to ethnicity in opinion research. Researchers, research funders, insights commissioners and campaigners have the power to make a positive impact by:
While changes are being made to the Energy Companies Obligation and the Warm Homes Plan, our latest tracker poll shows that the majority (69%) of the public support government incentives for homeowners to improve home insulation. This support carries across voting lines, with even supporters of Reform, who are typically the least supportive of climate related policies, indicating majority approval (56% support).
The majority of the public are also supportive of financial support to low income families for green home upgrades. Not only is this a crucial aspect needed for a fair transition to clean energy, the relative consensus among the public is a rare opportunity.
The number of people who agree ‘there is no such thing as climate change’ remains marginal: only 2% agreed with this statement in the latest opinion tracker from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
It’s important – in a period of political instability and the fracturing of the climate consensus – to remind ourselves that despite the turbulence, outright denial of climate change is almost non-existent.
And most people (49% vs 22%) recognise that the energy transition will be positive for the country in the long-term.
But (backing up a signal that is getting louder by the day) the DESNZ data shows that concerns about the costs of green policies are growing, with a record high of people who think the economic consequences of the country’s transition to Net Zero will be negative in the short-term.
Labour has promised to reduce energy bills by £300 a year, and (long-term) the policies being introduced will likely deliver this. But short-term, the financial insecurities that people face (which have little to do with green policies) are being weaponised by opponents of climate action.
Whilst this happens, making the best case for what is currently on the table is equally critical: this requires connecting the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of net zero alongside telling people’s stories to demonstrate that the transition is both achievable and effective. Read more about the takeaways from Climate Barometer & Public First’s recent net zero message testing research here.
The Autumn Budget and public opinion – bills, taxes, and more
The Autumn Budget is out. Here’s a preview of what the tracker reveals about what people blame for the cost of energy bills, taxing the super rich, and who pays for net zero.