ON CLIMATE, COMMUNICATIONS & THE IRISH MEDIA
On July 9th, 100 members of the PR and creative communications industry in Ireland gathered for a Q&A discussion with Dr. Pat Brereton (academic and co-chair of Dublin City University’s MSc in Climate Change) and Kevin O’Sullivan (Irish Times Environment and Science Editor). Hosted by Purpose Disruptors Ireland, supported by the PRCA & PRII, it focused specifically on the communications industry and the media plays in tackling and communicating the climate emergency in Ireland.
The free event was organised by Purpose Disruptor Ireland volunteers - members of the community who care passionately about the topic and the collective industry response. It attracted attendees from agency, in-house and public sector bodies to engage on the issue of climate change, and opened the floor to a robust discussion on the role of communicators’ in the context of the climate emergency, with expert guests Kevin and Pat sharing rich insights from their backgrounds in media and academia.
Media is often credited with being at the centre of the fight against climate change. It’s an enduring force in society that connects everyday people to the events in the world around them, shaping public attitudes and actions. How creative communicators engage with the media on sustainability stories is critical. Similarly, PR and communications is an extremely broad but influential field that plays a pivotal role when it comes to emergencies, as has been highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Key takeaways from the hour-long discussion include:
Communicators Working with Big Questions
As a community of communication professionals, those in the creative communications sector concerned about climate are working with some big (and wide ranging) questions. These questions touch on themes from tackling greenwashing to communicating complexity. The session didn’t allow time to address every single one, but there is insight sharing the kinds of questions emerging:
“Some solutions to the climate crisis are hugely complex, and require nuanced understanding and public buy-in. How can we communicate comprehensively around complex climate topics, such as the circular economy?”
“What are the key climate issues Irish organisations and businesses are not addressing at present? The narrative seems to be focused on reducing plastic use, better energy efficiency, sourcing cleaner energy, and supporting environmental causes.”
“How do we address the tougher sides of greenwashing, and hold businesses accountable, through communications?”
The Need for Creative Imaginaries
Dr. Pat Brereton spoke with enthusiasm about the importance of social science and humanities in communicating messages around climate. He highlights the need for ‘creative imaginaries’ - professionals who will come up with the creative ideas that will get across climate change and get everyone to come on board to tackle the challenge: “I’m very interested in how we can reimagine Covid into the bigger challenge of climate change...how we can reposition people to move and play with things like green growth and degrowth. PR and advertising has a lot to do in assessing developing more nuanced and sophisticated responses to complicated problems.”
Community members added:
“Our worldview of dominance over nature is something we need to examine and reevaluate (creating a change in our value base). Advertisers created the aspirations to consume - can they do the same with a reframed future?”
“The climate crisis is happening now, it’s being experienced more acutely by some than others. It’s about consumption. Those with more resources consume more. We have been addressed as individual consumers but systemic change is required.”
Remoteness of the Issue & Changing the Narrative
As the dominant issue of our time, Kevin O’Sullivan highlighted the continued need to make the climate challenge feel relevant to everyone in society: “Up until now Irish people acknowledged the climate issue but felt it was remote - both in time and place… This might not change until we have a heatwave of over 40 degrees… But people are seeing the global picture - we’re an outwardly looking country.” He went on to say that everyone can do more (it was guilt that drove him to focus on this area in his work) - none of us are doing enough, and that ‘has to be the great motivator’.
Dr. Pat Brereton spoke about how Covid-19 created a ‘war’ narrative - “the enemy is defined very clearly with Covid-19. The problem with climate change is that we are the enemy. We are causing it and driving consumption. Sustainability is the most abused word in the lexicon at the moment. It can mean so many different things. I buy into a ‘both, and’ rather than an ‘either, or’ solution - we need the small wins but then we need to build up to the bigger, more challenging things. The industry needs to inspire people (like Greta [Thunberg] does), and then you need the boardroom to make policy decisions that will have serious consequences. So there are different scales of responses - and that’s where the communications industry can kick in and find various ways to get this war narrative across and the real need for a crisis response [without disempowering people].”
Kevin also stressed the importance of moving beyond ‘doomism’ or narratives of catastrophe is really important - “not only does that not work in terms of change, it just can overwhelm people. There is such a thing as climate-stress...We need to focus on solutions and what we can do to bring about meaningful change. We need action on so many different fronts and the debate needs to be broad…’Emissions’ are a turn off in many ways but [people] understand the need for change, so the conversation has changed because people want to get on with it.” In addition to stressing the importance of climate salience in the media, Pat added “If it’s preachy or doom-laden it loses its audience very quickly. There’s no point in speaking to the bubble of environmentalists...We need to have it as always there in the background, all the time.”
Community members added:
“We need to change the narrative. The general public do not feel that this issue has anything to do with them, nor do they feel that they can help in any meaningful way.”
“People are jaded from the Covid message now and I think that’s a huge challenge for convincing people on board with the climate crisis.”
“A colleague suggested that we should approach communicating Climate Action like we did for Covid - daily press conferences and daily data release etc - which helped to change society behaviour quickly...but I have my doubts for long term change being communicated in such a fashion.”
Raising Ambition & Science-based targets = Core to Marketing & Communications
Kevin O’Sullivan highlighted the need to act with a sense of urgency: “The clock is ticking. To half emissions by 2030, we need to act this year. There’s a huge urgency about this.” One of the big challenges with this, is short termism from the perspective of politics and media: “There’s a problem with short-termism with the news cycle. We get totally obsessed with the most immediate thing and that dominates and it pushes out other important content.”
When it comes to business and brand action, it’s not just about communicating Net Zero goals - there needs to be ambition behind it. Observing how climate is becoming core to marketing and communication he notes: “This crisis is immediate and far reaching. It’s Brexit x1000 - dramatic effects regardless… The really interesting thing is how business is changing. It’s not just about the climate crisis - it’s also about sustainability and the way we live. There’s a realisation that climate is becoming the overriding issue in politics, economics, business, environment & lifestyle. None of us can avoid the issue.”
Kevin addressed the problem with ‘half-hearted’ commitments and the importance of sustainability literacy for radical change and transformation: “...It comes down to how meaningful and transparent commitments are. People will increasingly demand transparency - shareholders or consumers. Therefore you have to come to the table with something that’s really meaningful and not just a once-off.” He added “It’s important that your clients know their carbon footprint and adopt science-based targets. And your own businesses should be doing likewise…You should know the carbon footprint of your sector and how you’re all responding together.”
In terms of reducing impact, science-based targets are key, and progress must be regularly reported: “Businesses may be ahead in realising they have to commit to science-based targets - they have to have independent verification and report regularly on their progress. A roadmap is really important. If you miss a target you should explain how you’re getting back on track.”
Broadening the Climate Brief & Tackling Climate Injustice
When taking action, it’s important to also think beyond the reduction of emissions and to communicate this. Kevin noted the importance of thinking more broadly about our collective resilience and the biodiversity crisis: “I think broadening the brief to embrace sustainability and the biodiversity crisis has to be part of the mix.”
On the topic of climate injustice, Pat spoke about how race and class issues needed to be a part of the climate narrative “climate change is an accelerator of these problems. Ethics and justice is a key way to drive climate change as an issue...Making it an injustice issue is central to bringing everyone together. Everything is connected.” Kevin also observed how climate is now being regarded as a security issue. Alongside this, people really want to see Ireland show global leadership: “There is an onus on the big wealthy countries and big business to act. It’s very easy to make us all feel guilty on an individual basis. We all do need to be engaged and to act in the best way possible, but when you look at where emissions are arising it’s very clear who needs to act.”
Community members added:
“To me the challenge is to position this as something crucial that affects all businesses of all sectors in this country, not just data centres and dairy. And to focus on the business opportunities of a net zero economy for all sectors.”
‘Co-opetition’: We Must Share Know-How
Finally, Kevin echoed sentiments from the broader community about the importance of sharing knowledge and nurturing spaces for collective learning and action: “The task is so hard, that you should be sharing knowledge with each other. Businesses should be sharing knowledge in how they are decarbonising and genuinely embracing sustainability. I like the concept of ‘we must share know-how, because it's such an immense task.”
Watchlist & References
Recommended watching from attendees and speakers included:
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