The IPCC in the hybrid public sphere: divergent responses to climate mitigation solutions in mainstream and social media

Abstract

In April 2022 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its report on the mitigation of climate change, which included detailed discussion of the wide range of solutions at the personal, societal and governmental level needed to reduce emissions. The report generated extensive societal debate and interest in mainstream and social media. Using manual text analysis, we examined 66 articles on more than 20 popular English-language online news sites in the UK and USA and the 56 most shared posts or tweets on Facebook and Twitter about the report. First, we found that the mainstream media faithfully reported the IPCC’s priority messages, and often included the IPCC’s own critique of some solutions, such as Carbon Dioxide Removal, as compared to critiques from other sources. The coverage represented a sharp break with the historical tradition of focusing on the negative, disaster-focused impacts of climate change in favor of more positive, solutions-based reporting. Secondly, in sharp contrast, many of the most widely-shared social media posts did not closely follow the IPCC’s main messages. Less than a quarter of the posts contained the summary message of the report, and about half mentioned no solutions at all. Instead they focused on the direness of the situation and the urgency with which action needs to be taken. Finally, there was a very low presence of voices from the organized climate countermovement, who often question the need to take far-reaching and rapid mitigation action. We discuss the significance of our results for future research and for practical action.