How to shift the climate narrative

How do you communicate the importance of communication?

I recently came back from London Climate Action Week, where the emphasis was on action. There was a shared consensus that we know the science and the technology. Now it’s time for a narrative shift: to what’s going right, and how it’s happening, in the fight against climate change right now.

Solutions Insights Lab recently supported the launch of the IKEA Foundation’s first integrated communications campaign — called The Shift — in partnership with Greenhouse Communications. We interviewed a wide range of IKEA Foundation grantees and developed first-person narratives communicating the impact of their work on the ground, while Greenhouse led on campaign design and activation plus strategic media placements. As part of the cross-channel approach, the first phase of activity included partnerships with The Mirror, The Guardian, and The Financial Times — to coincide with London Climate Action Week — as well as digital advertising campaigns across Meta and LinkedIn.

We know the urgency of climate action. Now it’s vital to trumpet the growing movement of climate success stories, like the astonishing rise in renewables and the growing can-do youth movements, to encourage further investments from philanthropies and governments. The more we embrace the wins, the more we can build on them.

The aptly named Shift campaign is aimed at shifting not just our relationship to the climate but also to the narrative around it. There are so many solutions that we know work, and many of them are happening. Let’s celebrate them, share them, and create a new culture around climate momentum.

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EVENT

One World, One Game, One Goal: Football as a Catalyst for Youth Mental Health and Well-Being

Next Friday, July 17, at UN Headquarters in New York City, the UN Member States Friends of Football is bringing together young leaders, changemakers, policymakers, UN entities, governments, civil society, private sector partners, athletes and advocates to celebrate football and sports as powerful drivers of youth mental health and well-being. You can register for free here. Grassroot Soccer, one of the Lab's partners in our ongoing work on youth mental health, will be part of an event at 1 PM ET. The Lab will be there; let us know if you will, too!

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Three Ways to Approach Shifting the Narrative on Climate

“We don't just need to build the good stuff; we need to stop building the bad stuff. That's absolutely critical.” — Tzeporah Berman, Fossil Fuel Treaty

“If you do not have people advocating for those solutions, carrying those solutions, seeing themselves in those solutions, they become very difficult to sustain and are actually more prone to backlash.” — Kudzayi Ngwerume, UMI Fund

“Just providing the information is not sufficient. You need to shape it in a certain way, and you need to engage with the people that need to get it.” — Niklas Höhne, NewClimate Institute