Key findings

From our years of research, we've found evidence that:

1.
People want action now

2.
Conversations make better policy and increase support

3.
Trust can be built with public involvement

1.
People want action now.

Public concern for climate change is higher than you probably think.
Polling data shows consistently high levels of concern about climate change, with 72% of the population saying they're worried about it.(1) This figure is relatively stable across different ages and socioeconomic groupings.

“We are doing our bit, most of the public is doing their bit, we’re doing more than we used to do before. It feels like the emphasis has been put on us instead of them (government and companies).”

And people want to see government action.
Our research with citizen panels (2) shows that as people learn more about the climate crisis and the scale of the challenge, the more they want government to lead because they understand that actions by individuals are not enough.

"We don’t really trust the government, they’re always lying to us, so the trust is gone and people are quite sceptical."

However, they are not confident that government leadership will be forthcoming. (3, 4)

The public think that the Government has a poor track record on climate action which means that public trust is low.

2.
Conversations make better policy and increase support.

Whilst opinion polling and surveys may offer a snapshot of what people think, public engagement works best as a two-way conversation between policymakers and people.

Conversations help to understand the contexts and caveats that the public have for different policies and approaches. Discussing the conditions under which people support or oppose particular interventions uncovers what is needed to truly understand public support. For example, when people talk about plans to site electricity pylons, they want to know who owns the turbine, who benefits from it, how it will impact energy prices, and whether it is fair. They take all these things into account when developing their views (5). This insight is particularly valuable as climate change can be a topic that is notoriously difficult to engage with and translate into everyday life.

“Something where we felt there was a real value in doing deliberative work was the heat transition. We knew there was very little policy. We didn’t really know what people thought, and polling on these issues isn’t actually very helpful. So it felt like a useful place for us to sponsor some work. At the end of that process, we’ve convinced ourselves even more that this is a valuable approach for us to be involved with. You can do these targeted deliberative processes to throw light on aspects of the net zero transition ahead of us.”(6)

How a policy is made is important to people too – not just the outcome.
Our research shows that involving people in decision making, through processes like Citizens’ Panels or social research – discussing policy mechanisms and trade-offs - makes for more favourable, practical, and achievable policies that also take better account of people’s lived experience.

3.
Trust can be built with public involvement

Public conversations not only yield brilliant information for policy making, but the very process of public participation can strengthen democracy.
Feeling that their voices have been heard in the policymaking process and having well communicated and understood processes helps people build trust and confidence in policy making.

Accountability can be secured through public involvement in decision making.
Climate policy impacts much of the economy and therefore attracts attention from of lots of businesses and interest groups.(7) Embedding citizen involvement could improve the accountability of decision making processes and help to ensure that powerful actors are not unduly influencing or dominating policy decisions.

Our research