Net Zero and the cost of living crisis

Sarah Irwin and Lone Sorensen report on a small research pilot project examining public views of the cost of living crisis and climate policies.  We ran discussion groups with citizens from economically disadvantaged communities, disabled and minority ethnic groups. We wanted to explore how the public interpret and engage with different messages regarding cost-of-living increases and Net Zero transitions by examining:

• citizens’ views of climate policies in relation to the current cost of living crisis and rising energy costs;
• citizens’ evaluations of political campaign materials which present diverse accounts of how and when to act on climate.

In our brief report we present our findings and describe some implications for public engagement and climate communication. Our report is here: Net Zero and the Cost of Living Report FINAL 12_10_2022

October 2022