In defence of the science of climate communications

The document responds to a commentary by David Roberts, arguing that while the social science of climate change communication contains uncertainties, it offers core principles and evidence-based building blocks that are superior to intuitive campaigning. It advocates for a stronger bridge between academics and practitioners and calls for more adventurous, applied research to move beyond limited lab-based studies toward systematic design and evaluation of real-world climate campaigns.

• Despite the presence of uncertainties and conditional statements, there are core principles in the social science of climate change communication where firm agreement exists.
• Social science research has established a documented link between ideology and climate change scepticism, and has concluded that using 'framing' to align narratives with an audience's values can shift public discourse over time when applied at scale.
• Climate campaigning has frequently suffered from an 'identity problem' because messages and imagery were often chosen based on the intuition of campaigners to appeal to other campaigners rather than using an evidence base.
• There is a need to shift research away from lab-based studies involving university students and toward applied research that systematically designs and evaluates real climate campaigns.

APA

Corner, A. (2017). In defence of the science of climate communications. Climate Outreach. https://climateoutreach.org/defence-science-climate-communications/

Chicago

Corner, Adam. In defence of the science of climate communications. Climate Outreach, 2017. https://climateoutreach.org/defence-science-climate-communications/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Corner |first1=Adam |title=In defence of the science of climate communications |publisher=Climate Outreach |date=19 December 2017 |url=https://climateoutreach.org/defence-science-climate-communications/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{corner2017defence, author = {Corner, Adam}, title = {{In defence of the science of climate communications}}, publisher = {Climate Outreach}, year = {2017}, month = dec, url = {https://climateoutreach.org/defence-science-climate-communications/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }