Illustrating the co-benefits of climate action can encourage collective action

Climate change activists face not only the challenge of convincing people that climate change is human-caused and dangerous, but also motivating both personal and political action. Often their strategy has been to present the science and consequences of climate change in more compelling ways. But new research suggests that a different approach — relating the benefits (or "co-benefits") of climate action in other areas — can spur widespread support for climate change action.

A recent Nature Climate Change study led by Paul G. Bain provides insight into the ways communicating about co-benefits can effectively change a person's perspective about climate change. To date, activists have highlighted the co-benefits of climate change mitigation in the economic or health sectors. For example, mitigation efforts can reduce pollution and support the economic development of green industries. Because climate change is a global challenge, this study takes data from 24 countries of diverse location and economic status to examine the co-benefits most valued in climate communications, and how they relate to each other. However a comprehensive assessment of co-benefits of climate action, especially in non-Western countries, has not been tested. Moreover the interconnected nature of co-benefits is generally not well understood.

This study provides an integrated framework for examining co-benefits. The research participants -- university students, who typically occupy similar socio-economic positions across different countries, and community members – first indicated their beliefs about the reality and importance of climate change mitigation. Using the "collective futures" model, the researchers then collated the data and analyzed the connections between the subject's social conditions (level of development), character in society (benevolence), and belief that certain co-benefits would change their lives for the better. The researchers also analyzed the interconnectedness of these variables for various kinds of co-benefits – public, private, and financial.

The results suggest that action on climate change is tied to beliefs about its co-benefits. For example, researchers found that the most important co-benefits were those that create economic growth or scientific progress, and those that build a more caring and moral community. The weakest motivators were those co-benefits that addressed disease and pollution. A subject's belief in climate change appeared to have no effect on their perception of the co-benefits of climate change mitigation.

This research suggests that one's perceptions of the co-benefits of climate change mitigation may motivate him or her to act on climate change. This study further suggests that communicating about the co-benefits of climate mitigation can foster public action, and influence political action, across cultures and continents – even among people who remain unconvinced about human-caused climate change.