Graz Charta for Climate Communication published
Experts from science, journalism, local authorities and non-governmental organizations consider a change of course in communication on climate issues to be urgently needed. The appeal was published on the occasion of the K3 Congress on Climate Communication with around 400 participants in Graz.
The main aim of the 21-point charta is to define guidelines for new climate communication. “The new climate communication activates people and motivates them to act. The aim is to achieve change at both a social and personal level,” the text states.
The charta is aimed in particular at institutions and people who communicate about the climate crisis and climate protection professionally or out of social commitment - it is therefore intended as a guide for climate protection officers in local authorities as well as for climate research experts, transport experts or installers who talk to their customers about new heating systems.
Marie-Luise Beck, Managing Director of the German Climate Consortium and co-initiator of the charta, emphasizes: “We want to focus on the opportunities of a climate-friendly life instead of engaging in debates that are primarily about defending business as usual.”
Signaling effect through first signatories
The charta promotes a shared vision of the priorities of climate communication. Among the 80 or so initial signatories are numerous experts from the DKK: Angela Oels, Mark Lawrence and Markus Reichstein from the Executive Board as well as Stefan C. Aykut, Otmar Edenhofer, Anita Engels, Jochem Marotzke, Johan Rockström, Ralf Röchert, Stefanie Trümper and Doris Wolst.
Prominent initial signatories such as actress and producer Maria Furtwängler, meteorologist Karsten Schwanke, former director of PIK John Schellnhuber, doctor and cabaret artist Eckart von Hirschhausen, author George Marshall and psychologists Cornelia Betsch, Elke Weber, Ellen Matthes, Thomas Brudermann and Katharina van Bronswijk also have a signal effect.
Options for action rather than fear mode
The initiators of the charta regret that many people find talking about climate protection polarizing. Previous calls for action have failed to have the desired effect:
“To warn of the threatening changes to the climate system in ever more drastic terms falls short of the mark,” the charta states. “All too often, such communication paralyses, unsettles and polarizes, especially if it only names problems and risks without pointing out solutions and options for action.”
When it comes to solutions, “the perfectionist idea often prevails that climate protection is only possible if you find solutions that are free of contradictions.”
“With the charta, we want to get away from the fear mode of communication,” says Carel Mohn, editor-in-chief of the Klimafakten portal and one of the initiators of the charter. “Instead of scaring people with 5-to-12 rhetoric, we should focus on solutions.”
Invitation to sign
The charta was published on September 26 as part of the K3 Congress for Climate Communication in Graz. Now in its fourth year, the K3 Congress is the largest German-language gathering of science and practice on climate communication.
Interested parties from science, business and society are invited to sign the charter at the following address Link .
The initiators of the Graz Charta for Climate Communication are:
Marie-Luise Beck - Managing Director of the German Climate Consortium (DKK)
Carel Carlowitz Mohn - Editor-in-chief at Klimafakten
Severin Marty - Project Manager at ProClim, Swiss Academy of Sciences
Christopher Schrader - Journalist
Martha Stangl - Project Manager at Climate Change Center Austria (CCCA)
