© Image by National Emergency Briefing
Large-scale academic study from CAST finds People’s Emergency Briefing’s direct and honest approach sharply increases understanding and motivation to act for an audience of 185,000, indicating the potential impact of a live emergency briefing by the government.
New academic research on audience responses to the People’s Emergency Briefing, a film seen by an estimated 185,000 people so far, reveals that nearly nine in ten viewers – around 160,000 people – left more informed and more motivated to act on the climate and nature crisis. The findings come after the UK’s hottest summer on record, made around 130 times more likely due to human-induced climate change.
Released by the National Emergency Briefing initiative, the film combines expert evidence and public voices to deliver the facts on how the climate and nature crisis is affecting UK life and what can be done about it. The model is built around in-person screenings, bringing people together in communities and workplaces to hear the evidence and discuss it face to face.
Since release in April, it has been shown at over 3,400 events in 550 constituencies, with MPs invited to participate alongside constituents.
Researchers at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), led by leading social scientist Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, operating out of the University of Bath, alongside lead author Dr Richard Clarke from the University of Gloucestershire, analysed the impact of the film on audiences.
Based on over 13,000 responses after screenings, 89% of people left feeling more informed, and 87% more motivated to act. 70% were more likely to contact a politician, with MPs more likely to back the call for a live government emergency briefing in constituencies where more screenings had already taken place.
93% said they did not think the UK public is being fully informed about climate change and nature loss. This chimes with the government’s decision not to proactively publish the Joint Intelligence Committee report on the national security threat from nature loss and ecosystem collapse.
The film delivers the latest scientific research on how the climate and nature crisis is impacting UK life. For example, how UK winter rainfall has increased by nearly 10% since 1980; that by 2050, 1 in 4 properties (8 million) in England may be at risk of flooding; and that Britain has seen three of the five worst cereal harvests on record occur this decade.
Before and after responses from nearly 9,000 respondents show that, after watching the film, more people expected climate and nature loss to cause problems in the UK in the next decade across all seven areas measured: food prices, health, national security, energy bills, jobs and the economy, house insurance, and transport infrastructure.
After watching the film, 89% of attendees thought the UK government needed to respond to climate change and nature loss with emergency level mobilisation, similar to COVID or World War Two – rising from 67% before watching when more people supported gradual, long-term change.
The findings add weight to the call from the National Emergency Briefing initiative for the government to stage its own live emergency briefing on the climate and nature crisis, introduced by the Prime Minister, delivered by independent experts, and broadcast live across all major TV networks – similar to COVID briefings. This call is backed by 163 MPs and over 125,000 signatories to a public petition, with both numbers rising fast.
The first COVID briefing was watched by 27.4 million across six networks. This research suggests that, by levelling honestly with the public in a live emergency briefing, the government could motivate tens of millions of people to take and support action on the climate and nature crisis.
Prof Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, CAST Director and study author, said:
“Our research shows that the ‘People’s Emergency Briefing’ has helped audiences connect the risks of climate change to everyday life, and generated support for a government-led public briefing on the issue. Far from being thrust into panic mode, most people became more hopeful and more motivated to act. Better understanding the full picture, together with the agency and human connection in-person screenings provide, is inspiring action – not alarm. This research offers lessons for how the government could stage its own briefing without sending people running for the hills.”
Read the CAST briefing: How the People’s Emergency Briefing turns environmental concern into civic action.
Explore the National Emergency Briefing data dashboard, created by study author, Dr Richard Clarke.
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