Crafting extreme weather communications to support policy change

With floods in Pakistan, forest fires in Canada and Spain, the hottest summer on record here in the UK (again) and hurricanes-a-storming, extreme weather is continuing to make the headlines as more and more people around the world are impacted.

Stories of extreme weather – and the suffering, hardship and damage it causes – are currently the dominant climate story. While talk of CO2 levels or net zero can sound jargony, everyone understands extreme heat and flooding – often on an emotive level. And as more people are feeling the impacts of climate change, framing these stories in the media is a vital tool for green and new economy NGOs to advance support for climate agenda.

Perception of connection between weather and climate

A recent study in Nature examined data from 71,922 people across 68 countries, in order to better understand the thinking of people who had been exposed to different kinds of extreme weather. The survey explored if respondents believed those events were caused by climate change, as well as how those beliefs and experiences influenced support for five climate policies — carbon taxes, promoting renewable energy, public transport investment, protecting forests, and carbon intense food taxes.

The key findings were as follows. Firstly, most respondents back climate policies and many believe extreme weather is linked to climate change. Perhaps unsurprisingly, people who perceive extreme weather as climate‐related are more likely to support climate policies—regardless of how frequently their country actually experienced those events. This link was especially strong for events like heatwaves, tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, and European winter storms in driving support for policies.

However, mere exposure to extreme weather, without believing it was climate-driven, does not reliably increase policy support (with the exception of wildfires, which showed a modest link).

There were regional differences: people in Latin America were more likely to link extreme events to climate change and show high policy support, while parts of Northern Europe and Africa showed weaker popular connection between extreme weather and climate change, and correspondingly lower policy support.

Implications for climate change communication

So what does this all mean for us climate communicators? Probably the most important takeaway is that simply talking about more frequent storms or heatwaves isn’t enough. Communication efforts should clearly link specific weather events to climate change, so people understand the cause–effect relationship.

Critically, other research indicates that the wider public also don’t understand the role of polluters in contributing to worse and more extreme climate events. It’s important that we take the time to spell out root causes when we are communicating about extreme weather. Creating a strong causal link between pollution, climate change, and personal experiences of extreme weather must be a priority for our movement.

The next vital lesson is that climate policy support needs to be linked to climate problems.

We need to help audiences understand what the causes of extreme weather events are, and what we can do right now to tackle the problem. Attributing extreme weather to climate change is critical for support of decarbonisation policy – but only if carbon pollution is properly understood as the root cause of climate disasters in the first place.

Tailoring messaging by event type and region makes sense given these findings, for instance for heatwaves or cyclones, framing them as climate-driven tends to boost support for mitigation steps. Using specific localised examples as an entry point may help with causal connections and make climate change more immediate.

Finally, the report shows that simply having had experience of extreme weather doesn’t automatically lead to policy support. The key difference is where people believed mitigation could help tackle weather-related disasters – and so a key task for communicators is showing clearly and directly how policies can reduce risks and manage future events.

For example, building more and better flood infrastructure can help prevent future damage during heavy rain, while renewable energy can lower carbon emissions and thus reduce the frequency and severity of such rainfall. The key message is that decarbonisation is not just about punishing polluters – it’s about protecting future citizens.

In conclusion: collusion

Understanding and critically showing that extreme weather events are caused (or amplified) by climate change is a powerful driver of support for climate policies – much more so than just living through such events. We need to show this causal link between polluters, rising temperatures and weather disasters.

It is vital that communicators focus on strengthening the link between the human impacts of climate change, the problems created by actors driving climate change and the policies needed to address this.

As ever, it is important to use relatable human experience, region-appropriate framing, and clear explanations of how climate change connects to what people experience, linked to what meaningful policies can do about it.

Communications desks need to plan to tell the human stories of extreme weather every year, finding new angles and creative approaches. Taking time to commission appropriate images, investing in creativity and teasing out practical policy steps to achieve positive change are all vital ways to boost understanding and reinforce messages.

- Jean McLean