People want to be consulted but don trust it will happen meaningfully

The report finds that while a strong majority of Britons want to be consulted on local climate and energy projects, there is significant distrust that these consultations are meaningful, with many viewing them as 'tick-box exercises'. Barriers to engagement include a lack of trust in government sincerity and a feeling of being uninformed. The findings suggest a shift in preference toward online engagement over in-person methods and emphasize the need for transparent, personal, and multi-channel communication to build trust.

• There is a widespread perception among Britons that consultations by both national and local governments are insincere. Specifically, 49% of people believe that national government consultations are a 'tick-box exercise' where decisions have already been made, and 49% feel the same about local council consultations.
• Distrust in the consultation process is particularly high among 'Traditional Conservatives', with 71% viewing national government consultations as a 'tick-box exercise', compared to 48% for local council consultations.
• Barriers to participating in local energy project consultations include the belief that views will be ignored, a lack of technical knowledge, and a lack of prior relationship with the council. The top three reasons cited were: 'The council wouldn’t listen to my views anyway' (42%), 'I don’t know enough about energy projects' (41%), and 'I’ve never spoken to the council before' (28%).
• Despite distrust, there is strong support for local consultation on climate actions; 88% of people feel positive or neutral about being asked to participate in a community consultation regarding a local wind farm, while only 12% feel negatively.
• Preferences for engagement methods have shifted, with online interaction now more preferred than in-person community engagement. 56% of people would probably or definitely share their opinion on a local energy project online, compared to 44% who would do so in-person.

APA

Climate Outreach (2025). People want to be consulted but don trust it will happen meaningfully. https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/chapter-7/

Chicago

Climate Outreach. People want to be consulted but don trust it will happen meaningfully. 2025. https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/chapter-7/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Outreach |title=People want to be consulted but don trust it will happen meaningfully |date=14 August 2025 |url=https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/chapter-7/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateoutreach2025people, author = {{Climate Outreach}}, title = {{People want to be consulted but don trust it will happen meaningfully}}, institution = {Climate Outreach}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://climateoutreach.org/btc/2025/report/chapter-7/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }