Pádraig Hoare: Properly tackling climate change requires public buy-in

Resistance to measures aimed at helping the environment suggests the messaging is not resonating with people.

'People detest more taxes, and being told what to do, even when it's for the collective good.'

Once upon a time, there was a planet, and the planet was mostly nice and cosy, if a bit gloomy sometimes, before becoming too hot. 

Unlike the Brothers Grimm stories, the storytelling around climate change and global warming doesn't have an ending yet, and scientists, media, and policymakers alike are all grappling with how to convey the message that we are at the tipping point.

For some, hard cold facts about where we are headed on the current trajectory is the only way — oblivion is the only ending. For others, adding hope and encouragement that we can change our harmful ways is of paramount importance.

Either way, there is a gap that needs to be bridged, because we are running out of time to fix the problems we have made.

People say, on paper at least, that they are willing to do their bit and step up. Research commissioned by the Department of Transport out this week found that two-thirds of Irish people believe reducing emissions is important, and nine out of 10 are willing to walk, cycle, or use public transport instead of their cars for 2km journeys.

However, the resistance to the likes of BusConnects and cycle lanes, invariably around taking parking spaces away, suggests the messaging and storytelling along the way is not resonating.

The UK has seen similar support from the public for the concept of tackling climate change but similarly, the buy-in for concrete measures as opposed to abstract intention is lukewarm at best, if not hostile.

A blog by Sam Freedman of the UK's Progressive Policy Think Tank threw up some interesting findings around messaging.

"YouGov tracking data shows that in 2011 just 7% said ‘the environment’ was one of the top three most important issues for the country. That number is now 33%. Back then almost seven times as many people said immigration was a top three issue, now the numbers are roughly equal. Though climate change is often seen as a ‘young people’ topic the differences between ages are not huge, with 25% of pensioners saying it’s a top three issue," he wrote.

However, when it comes to the sharp shock of measures actually being introduced, the support drops. People detest more taxes, and being told what to do, even when it's for the collective good, in both Ireland and the UK.

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Mr Freedman wrote: "In August 2021 there was net 47% support for increasing national insurance to increase healthcare budgets. One month later when this policy was actually introduced by the government, it fell to 1%.

"While it’s true that 42% of people told one pollster last year that they wouldn’t be willing to pay any increase in tax to fund ‘action on climate change’, the number was almost identical for ‘reducing crime’.

"But no sane politician would deduce from this that they could gain popularity by saying they were going to cut the police force and close some prisons," Mr Freedman wrote.

We banned cigarettes in work, bars, and other public places in 2004 and the sky didn't fall. We charged for plastic bags in shops in 2001 and retail did not fall off a cliff. Measures can be taken but it takes courageous leadership, and good storytelling to persuade hearts and minds. It's not easy, but change never is.