MONEY

TALKS

Unlocking mass support for international investment in climate and development

how can we unlock mass support in G7 countries for international investment in climate and development?

It started with a big question:

4 focus groups, 20,000 survey respondents, 4 more focus groups, lots of analysis and a test and learn campaign on social media later…

Significant support across the G7 for action on climate and development

Two politically influential and persuadable mass audience segments identified

Development and testing of three message frames that are proving to be highly effective.

the result

OUR RESEARCH REVEALED…

MONEY

MATTERS

Insight 1

Across the G7 concern for the negative effects of climate change is greater than for global recession, armed conflicts, food shortages and virus variants (global recession highest in UK, US & Canada)

Cost of living dominates concern on impacts. Particularly food prices and availability - more so than energy prices

Of the issues front of mind when considering voting, the state of the economy is the leading concern. ​

CLIMATE IS A TOP VOTING ISSUE EVEN DURING A TIME OF GLOBAL CRISES

Q: What issue will most likely be in mind when voting?

Climate change is a top three voting issue across all G7 countries, apart from Japan

Only 1% said international aid / reducing poverty overseas will be first on their mind when they next vote.

12%

15%

10%

Climate

Economy

Healthcare

Insight 2

THERE’S WIDE SUPPORT TO SPEND MORE ON CLIMATE AND DEVELOPMENT

Insight 3

Across the G7, people think their governments should be spending more on tackling climate change and on poverty and hunger than on defence and military.

What % of your country’s GDP do you think should be spent on helping other countries tackle the following…

3.2%

3.1%

2%

*percentage figures are average results across the G7

Climate�Change

Poverty�& Hunger

Defence and military given as a benchmark

BUT WHO CAN BE TRUSTED TO DELIVER?

Insight 3

Trust in politicians and political institutions is very low

Focus group insight suggests most people have no or limited knowledge of the World Bank. Whilst there is considerable support for the World Bank conceptually, most people don’t identify it as an institution they trust.

Q: Which of the following would you trust most to handle and allocate large amounts of money to climate related investments?

24%

20%

14%

13%

10%

10%

6%

4%

A new international organisation, specifically focused on tackling climate change

None of these

World Bank

United Nations

My government

Charities

Large International businesses

Politicians

A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY

Insight 4

Respondents recognised that people living in poorer countries will face the greatest harm from climate change

feel that richer countries need to bear a larger part of the cost, when it comes to funding climate action.

65%

A WINDOW FOR INSTITUTIONAL REFORM EXISTS

Insight 5

Over ½ of respondents believe we need to fundamentally change the way our economy works to solve global crises like climate change, cost of living and equitable global development.

BUT 11% OF THE POPULATION ISN’T ENOUGH

The research identified a relatively small group of highly concerned, highly active people, ‘anxious globalists’.

WE NEED TO MOTIVATE THE MASSES IN THE MIDDLE

We’ve identified two influential and persuadable groups of people with centre and centre-right political views

‘Soft Right’ and ‘Middle Class Moderates’ are open to voices from both sides of the political spectrum and are not opposed to investing in climate and development.

Their voices carry significant weight in domestic politics.

11%

Anxious �Globalists

19%

Soft�Right

25%

Middle Class�Moderates

9%

Left Behind�Traditionalists

18%

Disengaged

11%

Core�Nationalists

7%

White Collar�Entrepreneurs

Share of g7 population

But to reach them, new narratives and messengers are needed…

MONEY TALKS

Recommendation 1

There is less intrinsic concern about climate change for this audience. They are worried about economic concerns and the rising cost of living

Demonstrating cost-effectiveness of solutions is particularly important.

Emphasise the cost-effectiveness�of solutions

Spell out the tangible difference reforms will make to their daily lives

Highlight that it’s better value for money to fix problems globally (at the source), than treat the symptoms locally.

recommendation

CONNECT GLOBAL CRISES�TO LOCAL REALITIES

Recommendation 2

People think about their own country first when it comes to economic, financial systems and spending

But many understand that local issues are intertwined with global crises and do show concern.

Create a conversation that clearly demonstrates that local problems are directly linked to global events.

recommendation

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

Recommendation 3

The Soft Rights and Middle Class Moderates acknowledge the need to tackle global problems together with other countries.

Emphasising the shared responsibility to take action may bolster support from these groups.

recommendation

CELEBRATE THE WIN WINS

Recommendation 4

There is an opportunity to use climate change as a route in to talking about the need to support investment in poorer countries

But many of the solutions to climate change have co-benefits in poverty alleviation, as well as cost of living benefits too.

Celebrate the co-benefits of investments that tackle climate change, poverty reduction and the cost of living crisis too.

recommendation

FIND A MESSENGER�IN THE MIDDLE

Recommendation 5

Find respected, non-partisan voices - from beyond the activist movement - to be your messenger.

recommendation

Alarmist messaging is unlikely to play well with large parts of this audience

Strongly partisan and left-leaning messengers risk alienating these centre / centre right groups.

Keep�it real

Recommendation 6

Don’t lose sight of people’s daily reality. They can make connections between the cost of living crisis and climate change or global poverty when the framing is right

Expressing investment as % with a benchmark e.g. GDP enables people to understand and engage in a way that billions or trillions does not.

Use straight-forward language, (see frames) and % GDP, not billions or trillions

Talk about connections through the direct impacts like food prices

Use economy as a gateway into conversation about interlinked global crises.

recommendation

We’ve developed�and tested�three powerful�messaging frames.

balance

Frame 1

If we think of our economy like�a big business, it is on the verge�of collapse.

Dividends are being paid out, but at the expense of people and planet.

We all know the importance of balancing the books.

We need a new business model.

We need to rebalance our financial system through fair and sustainable development to avert collapse

upgrade

Frame 2

The economic system is crashing.

Our financial operating system is out of date.

We've ignored the notifications for so long that inequality and climate catastrophe are affecting our daily lives.

We need to upgrade to fair and sustainable development to avert catastrophe.

revive

Frame 3

Our economy is on life-support.

We’ve been treating the symptoms, band-aids over huge problems like global inequality and climate catastrophe.

But we need to invest to heal inequalities, restore health to the planet and build resilience to future crises.

In addition to focus groups and the survey we ran a digital testing campaign across Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

What we’ve learned

There is no clear winner! But also no losers.

​

All the narratives were found “convincing”. Clear, simple and easy-to-understand language is appreciated.

Revive performed strongest in quant, Upgrade strongest in digital testing (with some variations between audiences/regions)

Upgrade performed consistently stronger with well - informed audiences (World Bank, IMF, COP27).

It’s hard to engage on these topics, especially in the US!

​

See here for the full details on Frames & testing results

We analysed language through “topic-modelling” open-text responses to questions on investment in climate and development. This helps predict salience of issues by region.

Anglosphere

European Union

Japan

The US, UK, and Canada speak most often about physiological needs associated with issues such as housing and words associated with cost of living

European countries tend to be most focused on words surrounding the topic of sustainable development

Participants from Japan seem most fiscally-focused, commonly using words associated with the economy

Themes within the Anglosphere revolve around the reduction and slowing down of the status quo, implying people are more likely to see climate policy as necessary but a hindrance to everyday life

​

G7’s EU countries look towards the future, and the growing use of renewable energy sources

Climate change initiatives need more awareness throughout the country. Without greater knowledge of potential policy, the Japanese public will not develop a strong conversation around climate change

When your government spends money on helping other countries, what do you think they should focus on?

Thinking about this questionnaire… How would you address climate change if you were in charge?

Find out more

Full report, charts, data and individual country breakdowns

Resources

with Liz and Rachel:�hello@blanksands.co.uk

Get in�touch

Webinar

recording

Research

Research was undertaken by Stack Data Strategy

Research consisted of UK and US focus groups plus a poll of 20, 000 people across the G7�(5000 people in the US; 2500 in other countries)

Fieldwork was conducted between 12 August�and 24 August 2022 when there was an extreme heatwave across many countries

This work was developed in consultation with a narrative working group. Huge thanks to ONE, Earth4ALL, Global Citizen, Restless Development and others for their inputs.

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