Why emotion can outperform facts in climate campaigns

A review of 71 studies points campaigners towards the heart as well as the head. Researchers at the University of Geneva analysed evidence from 216,000 participants to assess how people respond to different ways of communicating about climate change. Their conclusion, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, gives emotional imagery and storytelling a stronger role than they usually receive in fact-heavy public campaigns.

The review examined 15 communication strategies, including scientific information, emotional appeals, financial and health consequences, and messages about responsibility. Almost all the approaches produced a positive effect on people’s intentions, behaviour or support for climate policy measures. Emotional approaches stood out when they used stories, compelling images or a sense of wonder at the natural world.

The finding arrives as climate communication competes with political fatigue, conflicting information and daily financial pressures. Switzerland has invested heavily in technical explanations of emissions, energy and adaptation. Those details remain essential for public debate, especially when policies affect buildings, transport and household budgets. The Geneva study suggests that facts may travel further when communicators give them a human setting and a reason to matter.

Stories and images gave climate messages more force than scientific evidence presented on its own. The review found that emotional responses were especially effective when campaigns used narrative or connected climate change with the beauty of nature. A photograph of a threatened landscape, a family adapting to heat or a community restoring a local habitat can make an abstract trend easier to understand and remember.

That does not make the underlying science less important. Carbon concentrations, temperature records and risk assessments establish what is happening. Emotion determines whether an audience sees those facts as relevant to its own choices and communities. For Swiss communicators, the strongest campaigns may link global warming to recognisable places, from Alpine snowfields to rivers, forests and densely built cities.

The researchers also found stronger results from moral and ethical considerations. Such messages can frame climate action around stewardship, fairness and protection of future generations. The review does not identify a single universal image or story. Audiences differ, and a message that creates wonder for one group may create grief or anger for another. Effective communication therefore requires testing, local knowledge and a clear path from feeling to practical action.

Responsibility appeals were the only strategy in the review that showed little or no effectiveness. Messages aimed at individual or collective responsibility could even provoke mistrust, according to the University of Geneva researchers. That finding challenges a familiar style of climate communication, in which citizens are told that solving the crisis depends primarily on their personal choices.

The problem may lie in how responsibility is assigned. A household can reduce energy use, choose lower-carbon transport or support climate measures, yet many emissions are shaped by infrastructure, regulation, industry and investment. Campaigns that imply individual consumers carry the entire burden can sound accusatory, especially when affordable alternatives are limited.

For Swiss public agencies, the lesson is practical. A message about home heating should explain available support, reliable alternatives and the role of building owners, municipalities and national policy. A campaign about transport should connect personal choices with rail services, urban planning and pricing. Collective action works better when people can see who is responsible for which decision. The Geneva findings support communication that invites participation and shows institutions carrying their share of the work.

The evidence is broad, but it does not provide a licence for careless emotional campaigning. The researchers combined results from 71 studies, yet the source report does not give a single effect size showing how much stronger emotional messages were than factual ones. Nor does it establish that every emotional appeal changes behaviour in the long term.

The studies measured intentions, behaviour and support for climate policy, but people’s responses can depend on the subject, the format and the time available for reflection. An image may prompt concern or admiration without leading to a change in energy use, voting or investment. Fear can also produce avoidance if audiences see no credible way to respond. The review’s positive result for emotional approaches should therefore be read alongside careful campaign evaluation.

Another limitation is exposure. The studies assessed messages shown once. Herberz and Brosch argue that repetition can strengthen impact, but repeated communication can also cause fatigue if every message uses the same dramatic tone. Swiss institutions and campaign groups should test whether messages improve knowledge, build trust and lead to measurable actions. Surveys alone will not settle that question. Behavioural data and longer follow-up are needed.

Swiss climate policy communication will need emotion, evidence and a credible route to action. The Geneva review gives public agencies a useful framework for explaining measures that can otherwise feel technical or remote. A campaign about heat adaptation could combine local accounts of overheated homes with clear guidance on shade, cooling and urban design. A message about energy could pair the beauty of a landscape with transparent information about costs, savings and available assistance.

The approach matters politically. Climate communication in Switzerland reaches people with different languages, values and levels of trust in institutions. Images and stories should reflect that diversity rather than assume one national audience. Campaigns also need to avoid presenting climate action as a test of personal virtue. People are more likely to engage when policy makers explain trade-offs, show results and make participation practical.

The study’s authors found that nearly every strategy they examined had some positive effect. That breadth gives communicators room to combine approaches rather than search for a magic slogan. Facts can establish credibility. Emotion can create attention and connection. Public policy must then provide the transport, buildings, prices and services that allow people to act on what they have understood and felt.