Emotional and demographic profiles of climate change attitudes in the UK: implications for targeted communication

Despite broad scientific consensus, a large proportion of the UK population remain unconvinced of the reality of anthropogenic climate change. Segmentation research has increased understanding of attitudes towards climate change in the UK and the profiles of those who adopt them, providing contextual information to inform future work on targeted communication. To date, however, incorporation of emotional responses to climate change in segmentation research has been limited. This is the first UK-based segmentation study to incorporate emotional responses in a latent class analysis (LCA), to explore how these relate to climate change attitudes. A secondary analysis of survey data was performed in a representative sample of the UK population ( n = 2009). Latent subgroups were identified based on responses to questions about climate change attitudes and emotions. Relationships between latent groups and sociodemographic and attitudinal variables were explored in a series of unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Five subgroups were found with differing sociodemographic and political profiles, defined by attitudes and emotions towards climate change: convinced indignant (41%; indignation relating to moral anger at the lack of current action to deal with climate change), accepting concerned (32%), ambivalent unconcerned (18%), sceptical hostile (6%) and neutral/uncertain (3%). This study uncovered emotional and attitudinal profiles that provide valuable information for future research into climate change messaging, especially when read alongside existing environmental communications research. For less concerned or ambivalent groups, for example, the presence of hostile responses to climate change indicates a need to test communication approaches that minimise defensiveness. Conversely, among accepting concerned groups the presence of anxiety alongside positive emotions indicates that there may be value in future research exploring communications that reinforce efficacy and urgency. Finally, given the small size and hostility profile of the sceptical hostile segment, it may be worthwhile assessing the value of focusing resources on this group.