Public understanding of climate change terminology in Germany

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review

Authors

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other institutions communicate about climate change to international audiences without a background in climate science, including the general public. The effectiveness of climate change communications may be undermined by their use of complex terminology. Bruine de Bruin et al. (2021) found that Americans struggled to understand key terms from IPCC reports. Here, we examined how 24 Germans interpreted German translations of these key terms, including tipping point, unprecedented transition, carbon neutral, carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, adaptation, mitigation of climate change/ of greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable development, and abrupt change. We also presented these terms in the context of sentences taken from German-language IPCC reports. We identified common themes and misunderstandings. Overall, 93% of the themes arose by the 10th interview, and no new themes arose after the 18th interview. While interviewees initially rated most terms as easy to understand, both climate-concerned and climate-ambivalent interviewees were unfamiliar with some terms or combinations of terms, unsure of the link to climate change, and confused about details. Some also expressed mistrust. Moreover, all sentences were perceived as too long and complex. We discuss the implications of these findings for climate change communications.
Original languageEnglish
Article number81
JournalClimatic Change
Volume177
Issue number5
Number of pages27
ISSN0165-0009
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15.05.2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Recently viewed

Researchers

  1. Niels Bosse
  2. Jutta Boye

Publications

  1. More than Yield
  2. Verkleben
  3. Einleitung
  4. Bioconversion of agri-food residues into lactic acid
  5. Influence of three different balance shoes on EMG-activity during one-leg standing
  6. Impact and Importance of Heterocyclics in Remediation
  7. Materialities of the Performative
  8. Towards a decision support system for radiotherapy business continuity in a pandemic crisis
  9. Editors’ Conversation with German Art Historians Oona Lochner and Isabel Mehl: Writing Like a Feminist—In Dialogue with Carla Lonzi
  10. Emotional design and positive emotions in multimedia learning
  11. Alex Adriaansens
  12. Omega
  13. Einsame Lektüre oder Kommunikation?
  14. Mehrsprachigkeit und Interkulturalität in Fremdsprachenportfolios
  15. Christian Boltanski's Failed Meta-Archive
  16. Diskussionsforum
  17. Using ectomycorrhizae to improve the restoration of Neotropical coastal zones
  18. Wenig Lärm um nichts
  19. Reflektierte strukturierte Videoanalyse als Mittel institutioneller Professionalisierung angehender Fremdsprachenlehrender
  20. Qualitative environmental risk assessment of photolytic transformation products of iodinated X-ray contrast agent diatrizoic acid
  21. Regional Mobility Spaces? Visa Waiver Policies and Regional Integration
  22. Flexibility, dual labour markets, and temporary employment – Empirical evidence from German establishment data
  23. Micro-scale Thermodynamic and Kinetic Analysis of a Calcium Chloride Methanol System for Process Cooling
  24. The Internet as a Tool for Sustainability Accounting and Reporting?
  25. Ammonia volatilization after application of biogas slurries in a coastal marsh region of Northern Germany
  26. Initial fate assessment of teratogenic drug trimipramine and its photo-transformation products - Role of pH, concentration and temperature
  27. Tablets im Sportunterricht!? Echt? Wow!
  28. Fernsehen als populäres Alltagsmedium
  29. Who are the Workers Who Never Joined a Union?
  30. Forming-induced damage and its effects on product properties
  31. Contestation 'all the way down'?

Press / Media

  1. Mimikry_Biologie_Raum