The document summarizes presentations from a topical collection on "Climate Change Communication and the IPCC" at COP26. It includes summaries of research examining public understanding of IPCC terms, the communicative power of youth climate activists, reflecting on IPCC knowledge from the perspective of Himalayan communities, and a concluding commentary.

1. INTERNAL
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors:
Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

2. INTERNAL
An Introduction to the Topical Collection:
'Climate Change Communication and the
IPCC’
Saffron O’Neill
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

3. INTERNAL
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors: Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock
Find the full collection online:
https://saffrononeill.com/si_cc_comms_ipcc/

4. INTERNAL
Public understanding of climate change
terminology
Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Lila Rabinovich, Kate
Weber, Marianna Babboni, Monica Dean and
Lance Ignon
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

5. INTERNAL
IPCC reports and press releases
target audiences without a
background in climate science.
Using complex language can
undermine recipients’
understanding, recall and decision-
making (Michie & Lester, 2005).
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal
Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our team from the UN Foundation and the
University of Southern California Public
Exchange, Dornsife and Price Schools aimed to:
- Examine public understanding of key
terms, identified by IPCC Working group
co-chairs and comms officers.
- Suggest potential improvements.
Our Rationale.

6. INTERNAL
• Interviews with 20 US
participants selected from USC’s
Understanding America study
(20 is sufficient).
• Representing diversity in
climate change views.
• Interviewees rated 8 terms,
discussed interpretations and
suggested improvements.
[Insert figure here – Interviewees’ ratings of how
easy terms were to understand prior to being
provided context
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal
Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Method.

7. INTERNAL
• Participants said “it sounds like
you’re talking over people”
• Climate terms were
misunderstood, even among the
climate-concerned.
• Context sentences did not
always help, due to being too
‘wordy’.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal
Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Findings.
• Mitigation was confused with “mediation”
• Why not say: “Stopping climate change
from getting worse”, with examples.
• Adaptation was defined as making books
into movies, or with mitigation
• Why not say “Adjusting to climate
change” with examples
Examples.

8. INTERNAL
• Participants suggested using simpler wording and showing relevance to climate change.
• To promote understanding, use shorter words of 1-2 syllables
• Guide for interpreting climate change terms published in The Conversation
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A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal
Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Recommendations.

9. INTERNAL
Wändi Bruine de Bruin
Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and
Behavioral Science, University of Southern California
wandibdb@usc.edu
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal
Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Report
THANK YOU.

10. INTERNAL
Voices of a generation. The communicative
power of youth activism
Elisabeth Eide and Risto Kunelius
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

11. INTERNAL
We are co-chairs of the MediaClimate
network. Started in 2008, the
network now has contacts in 30+
countries (www.mediaclimate.net)
Our research has been on media
coverage of climate change. Focusing
on international climate summits and
the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Reports
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Youth activists represent new
ambassadors for climate action, re-
energising the message of scientists with a
new, distinct voice and moral authority.
Our article aims to capture the specific
added value and contribution of the recent
youth climate movement to communicating
climate information.
Our Rationale.

12. INTERNAL
• Semi-structured interviews with
31 young activist leaders in 23
countries in their native language.
• Interviewees aged between 12-
30 years; 14 women and 17 men.
• Represented vulnerable countries
and those at the top of the UN
Human Development Index.
• Asked about their motivations,
background and relationships
with media, scientists, NGOs etc.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Method.

13. INTERNAL
• Overwhelming starting point is to take climate
science – and the IPCC - seriously. Underlining
that they are inheritors of the planet.
• Strongly relate IPCC science to their local lived
experience. Recognise the importance of
personal experience to inspire and motivate.
• Leaders of inventive, autonomous movements
in their countries. Much-inspired by Fridays for
Future and the ‘Thunberg effect’.
• Many underline the need for systemic
changes to achieve the Paris goals.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Findings.

14. INTERNAL
• Recognise these young
leaders’ skills. And their
importance for raising public
awareness of the climate crisis.
• IPCC might benefit from a
youth panel as an advisory
board. Many are very
knowledgeable about climate
science.
• Include young leaders in
communication strategies. In
their own countries, linking up
with local scientists.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Our Recommendations.

15. INTERNAL
Thank You
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors: Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock

16. INTERNAL
From Climate Adaptation to Climate Justice:
Critical reflections on the IPCC and
Himalayan climate knowledges
Ritodhi Chakraborty and Pasang Y Sherpa
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

17. INTERNAL
IPCC is the global authority on climate
science. Positions itself as a translator
at the science-policy interface and
provides a platform for governments to
take an active role.
Yet it has been criticised for
overrepresenting certain voices. Global
north over south, men over women,
natural over social sciences and western
science over indigenous knowledge.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
We bring our personal experiences with
local Himalayan communities in
dialogue with IPCC knowledge
production process. Two objectives:
- Highlight marginalised stories of
climate-society relationships.
- Suggest ways to foreground justice
and equity and explore the
production of democratic knowledge.
Our Rationale.

18. INTERNAL
• We present ethnographic accounts
of our engagements with people
and institutions in three Himalayan
regions (Uttarakhand, India & Nepal).
• Our research reveals the big
question to address is: how to move
from an expert-driven culture of
knowledge production to one that is
more just and inclusive?
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Gepang Gath Glacier, India. Over the last 40 years, the proglacial lake volume has increased by over 20 times
due to melting and calving glacier fragments, threatening villages downstream.
Credit: Rakesh Rao / Climate Visuals Countdown
Our Method.

19. INTERNAL
• Move from extraction to co-production.
Scholars have noted an exploitative
relationship between normative climate
science and local/Indigenous knowledge.
• Situate climate change within social and
historical contexts. Climate change
wields immense power in the Himalayas.
• Address the politics of scale. The
prominence of national scale poses a
road-block to equitable decision-making.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
In Humla, northwest Nepal, villagers work with hand tools to build roads for daily wages as their crops
struggle to grow in their dry fields. Spring of 2016. Credit: Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
Our Findings.

20. INTERNAL
• Re-envision a framework for climate
justice. Institutions will need become more
reflexive and admit limitations of scale
(state) and methodology (biophysical bias).
• Complementary institutions. Navigate the
dynamic relational worlds of the Himalayas.
• Recognise and overcome the barriers to
marginalised voices (legacies of
colonialism, prominence of national
scale) to inspire, manage and orchestrate
the needed institutional reform.
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021
Leh City, Ladakh Region, India. An early prototype of an artificial glacier, called an Ice Stupa. Glacier
meltwater is brought down by gravity pipes and re-frozen.
Credit: Ankit tanwar / Climate Visuals Countdown
Our Recommendations.

21. INTERNAL
Thank You
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors: Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock

22. INTERNAL
Concluding Commentary to the Topical
Collection: ‘Climate Change Communication
and the IPCC’
Thelma Krug
COP26, Glasgow, UK, 5th November 2021

23. INTERNAL
Q&A session
Go to www.sli.do
Enter code #cop26ipcc
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors: Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock

24. INTERNAL
Audience poll
Go to www.sli.do
Enter code #cop26ipcc
Select ‘Polls’ tab at top of page
A Topical Collection in the Springer Nature journal Climatic Change
Guest co-editors: Saffron O’Neill and Roz Pidcock

25. Whose pitch for enhancing communication do you think the IPCC should prioritise?
ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.