Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, is an environmental psychologist, specialising in perceptions and behaviour in relation to climate change, based in the Department of Psychology, University of Bath, UK. She is Director of the ESRC-funded UK Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), and Co-Director of the Bath Institute of Sustainability & Climate Change Research.
She regularly advises governmental and other organisations on low-carbon behaviour change and climate change communication, was one of the expert leads for Climate Assembly UK, and Lead Author for IPCC’s Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report. She is also a founder-member of the international Climate Crisis Advisory Group. Her research projects have included studies of diet change, travel behaviours, energy and water demand, waste reduction, low-carbon technology adoption, societal transitions, engagement methods, climate anxiety, and responses to climate change.
Plenary 1. Wednesday 2 July. 13.30-16.30 – Communicating with the public, policy makers and climate.
Engaging the public with climate change
In this talk, I will argue that public engagement with climate change is critical for both mitigating and adapting to climate change. Most climate policy measures require at least some degree of behaviour change, and wider social transformation is needed for a sustainable society. To achieve this, we need public engagement and participation in decision-making about what a low-carbon, resilient future looks like, and how to reach it. I will present findings from polls and citizens assemblies on public attitudes to climate change and support for climate policies; and from behavioural and communication science research on how to effectively engage and change behaviour.