Non-UBC Event
Building a Social Mandate for Climate Action
February 19, 2026, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Virtual event
Effective communication is hard work. The audience we want to reach needs to receive the message we are trying to send through sounds, words, or images. It is not enough to have a message punch through the noise and distractions people deal with daily. If a message does reach an audience, it also needs to generate a response (e.g., positive or negative emotions, changing or reinforcing ways of thinking or acting, increasing or decreasing support for policies or programs, or taking action as a consumer and citizen). Climate change communicators face additional challenges due to weak social norms, psychological gaps (e.g., climate change is distant in time and place), and politicization of the causes, impacts, and policy and lifestyle responses to the issue.
A deeper understanding of the audiences we are trying to reach, whether one person or millions, enhances our chance of communication success. In 2023, EcoAnalytics researchers identified five Canadian audience segments, each with different social and political values and intensity of concern about climate change. Ranked from most to least engaged on climate change, these five segments are: Progressive Activists (15% of the national population), Civic Nationals (21%), Centrist Liberals (20%), Disengaged Middle
(30%), and Fossil Fuel Conservatives (14%). When ranked by egalitarian to conservative social and political values, Progressive Activists and Centrist Liberals are most egalitarian, while the Disengaged Middle, Civic Nationals, and Fossil Fuel Conservatives are lesser to greater degrees more socially hierarchical and nativist with authoritarian and reactionary tendances. Civic Nationals emerge as an important segment—they are concerned about climate change and care deeply about nature and their communities but see climate policies, like a consumer carbon tax as contentious.
(30%), and Fossil Fuel Conservatives (14%). When ranked by egalitarian to conservative social and political values, Progressive Activists and Centrist Liberals are most egalitarian, while the Disengaged Middle, Civic Nationals, and Fossil Fuel Conservatives are lesser to greater degrees more socially hierarchical and nativist with authoritarian and reactionary tendances. Civic Nationals emerge as an important segment—they are concerned about climate change and care deeply about nature and their communities but see climate policies, like a consumer carbon tax as contentious.
To better understand the communication needs of these population segments, Re.Climate held focus groups, facilitated by Narrative Research, from March 21 to April 25, 2024. Focus group participants were recruited from the pool of 6,142 Canadians, over 18 years of age, who completed the EcoAnalytics CA-MAP National Segmentation Survey (2023). Over 90 minutes, participants shared their perspectives on top-of-mind concerns; views on whether climate change and affordability could be solved together; and reactions to a variety of narratives, images, and mock social media posts that varied by tone and topic. The narratives were based on a mix of approaches proposed by EcoAnalytics, as well as by Potential Energy and Yale Climate Connections based on their own 2023 global survey. We also tested climate change campaign materials and images used by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), and a variety of images meant to communicate risks associated with unsafe weather like heat waves and wildfires.
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Louise Comeau is a Senior Advisor at Re.Climate, Carleton University’s centre for climate change communications and public engagement. Louise is passionate about advancing evidence- based solutions to climate change. She specializes in mixed-method research, with a focus on social acceptance of climate change policies and the energy transition, especially electrification. Louise has more than 30 years’ experience in climate change policy, communications, and solutions-related advocacy and programming. Louise holds a doctorate in environmental management, focused on environmental ethics and behaviour change from the University of New
Brunswick.
Brunswick.