At COP26, some of the UK’s leading broadcasters and streamers came together to sign the Climate Content Pledge, convened by BAFTA Albert. The pledge was a public commitment from the organisations to use their content to help audiences understand what tackling climate change might mean for them, and to inspire and inform sustainable choices. It was a rallying cry to the global industry to do more and better climate storytelling on-screen across all genres.
In 2022, six of these broadcasters – the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky and UKTV – commissioned Ipsos and the Centre for Climate and Social Transformations (CAST) to conduct an evidence review into what role broadcasters can play in inspiring audiences to make changes to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.
The review found that the visual storytelling power of broadcast media gives it a unique role in inspiring people and systems to address the challenges facing the environment.
Key findings included, the importance of:
- Educating audiences about the problem of climate change and also the solutions.
- Setting social norms through showing relatable and aspirational people engaging in positive climate action.
- Providing a hopeful and inspiring narrative of a future where action is taken on climate change, including through showing the co-benefits of pro-environmental changes.
- Talking about change at a system-level as well as what individuals can do.
- Incorporating climate content across multiple channels and genres to maximise effectiveness.
It is clear that climate change matters to the majority of us – but different stories speak to different people, so when it comes to climate storytelling we need a range of approaches.