Abstract
Narratives can help increase experiential engagement with climate change and build support for transitions to a low carbon future. The UK’s 2050 climate targets provide indicatives frames through which emissions reductions could be translated to different contexts. The scenarios outlined in the UK’s fifth carbon budget will require lifestyle changes which may need to counter low levels of acceptance of the need to change through technological, political and behavioural initiatives. This paper explores the role of narratives of the UK’s fifth carbon budget in increasing engagement to climate change. Data are presented from thirty semi-structured interviews with UK academic, policy and practitioner communities. Six narratives are identified that could enable positive engagement with a low carbon future and better engagement on climate change: (i) showcasing investment opportunities; (ii) maintaining independence and freedom of choice; (iii) guiding audiences to visualise a low carbon future; (iv) demonstrating broader appeal, salience and impact of not doing anything; (v) supporting transitions and change; (vi) highlighting benefits to quality of life. Implications of these findings to public engagement on climate change and perceptions of how life may need to be reconfigured in a low carbon future are discussed.
Highlights
Narratives can help increase experiential engagement with climate change and build support for transitions to a low carbon future
Further reinforced by the data reported here, that engagement to climate change may increase if messages are framed as narratives around specific themes such as those described in this paper
This is true if these narratives move away from the data, facts and figures the public often associate with climate change, which often form the basis of communication on the issue, and are aimed at specific audiences who may share similar values, beliefs and world views [30]
Summary
The scientific imperative to act on climate change is mirrored by increasing political ambition to limit global greenhouse gas emissions and ensure global temperatures do not rise beyond 2 °C [1], whilst “pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C” [2]. The Act required that the UK government set legally binding carbon budgets, establish a Committee on Climate Change (CCC) as well as a National Adaptation Programme (NAP) outlining the risks to the UK from climate change [3] These carbon budgets (Table 1) ensure the implementation of the Act’s 2050 emissions targets [4] and in 2011, the UK government released its Carbon Plan [5] outlining policies and proposals to meet the fourth carbon budget; the overarching purpose being to serve as a plan for a transition to a low carbon economy in the future. Individuals may not be aware that the changes they are making are a consequence of the need for emissions reductions nor is it possible to predict with certainty that changes that occur, resulting in GHG reductions, will be directly attributable to low-carbon initiatives This may be problematic considering the impact of perceived barriers on development of sustainable technologies such as smart homes which can facilitate societal shifts to low carbon solutions [7]. Technology such as smart meters generates both positive responses, in that it can enable energy savings and accurate billing, and negative responses
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