What does a 4,590% increase in climate anxiety have to do with brand planning?
At Cop time of year it can all feel overwhelming. So, what about some inspiration for how brand planning might take back a little power while gaining business advantage?
Climate anxiety (+ 4,590%) vs brand planning
We know extreme weather events are sharpening the senses to the reality of climate change. It shouldn’t be a surprise this is driving us to new levels of climate anxiety. A Google report found searches related to the topic are up over 4,590% since 2018. And that curve has steepened dramatically in recent months - searches in English were 27 times higher in the first 10 months of 2023 than during the same time period in 2017. The U.K. ranked 10th among countries in the world for climate anxiety searches in the last five years, while the U.S. ranked 16th.
For those of us whose professional decision-making has - rightly - leaned heavily on qualitative human insight as the key input to shaping successful products and communications, the significance of this moment bears consideration.
Time magazine quotes an as yet unpublished study from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, which finds that 10% of individuals with high climate distress worried about the impact of climate change on their own future more than anything else, even age-old stressors like personal finances, relationships and jobs.
Those human motivations, informed and amplified by accompanying fears and anxieties, which shape demand for everything from financial services to fashion can now count ‘climate anxiety’ as a new force in their number. One which may run just as deep for many of us.
Are we giving enough consideration to how this is shaping attitudes, tastes and behaviours?
Yale researcher Anthony Leiserowitz told Time magazine that “worry can galvanize collective climate action, which can also lead to better mental health as people take change into their own hands.”
In it simplest manifestation, then, a response to climate anxiety is for consumers to take action through their choices. In research we conducted earlier this year, we found high levels of willingness to spend 50% or more for a sustainable option in categories including fashion, cleaning goods, food and delivery.
What does climate anxiety mean for the brands we build?
To take an example at random, consider the intersection of climate anxiety and personal finances. Banks, building societies and insurers all work hard to build brands that offer reassurance, safety and - since the financial crisis of 2008 - banks have been responding to consumer preference for brands they describe as ‘open and honest’.
But as recently as last year, research showed green credentials were relatively low on the pecking order as a driver of brand consideration in B2C banking.
Does the stress of personal finances simply drown out climate anxiety for financial services shoppers?
Unlikely. Perhaps it’s just that the category has yet to properly align its offers to this part of the consumer’s motivation.
Governments are yet to make investing with sustainable sources more attractive to consumers from a tax point of view (though this will surely come). Financial services remain a green minefield, with no clear regulation to define what is or isn’t a sustainable investment and it can feel far harder to exert an influence over sustainable practice here than, say, choosing to spend a little more on the organic cotton t-shirt.
All of which means, for financial services brands, this engine of human demand can probably be successfully dodged for a while longer. At least while governments and regulators get their shit together.
But for those looking to take the advantage in a time of upheaval, surely this is the opportunity to put in place changes and emerge as a new, modern and future-facing brand, free of the anachronisms of the category.
Climate Change New: Anxiety Soars As Conditions Worsen, Time Magazine
33_Zero Research: ‘A Window on Net Zero Culture’
Do customers care about the state of their bank's poor 'green' perceptions? Brand Finance
New API promises to help identify biggest polluters
No need to cover all the news coming out of Cop28 here, but one thing caught our eye which offers a useful resource for any of us looking for reliable measures of emissions across sectors, categories and companies. That is Climate Trace, an independent initiative which counts Al Gore as a founder and uses AI and satellite imaging to create a highly accurate picture of the sources of all significant global emissions, at a granular ‘facility-by-facility’-level.
The Guardian reports that, among other things, Climate Trace data shows aviation emissions have bounced back post-Pandemic. Carbon from international flights rose by 74% and from domestic flights by 18% between 2021 and 2022.
The website is a phenomenal resource, with an interactive map of global emissions that can be searched by area or owner and filtered by emissions types. The data is free and publicly available via API.
So, we expect lots of creative ideas in the coming months to be applied in the way this data is used to help us all identify and address the problem sources that we have some power over, either as consumers, employees or professionals.
Climate Trace - Independent Greenhouse gas Emissions Tracking
Greenhouse gas emissions soar – with China, US and India most at fault, Guardian
About 33_Zero
33_Zero believes the net zero challenge will reshape culture and consumer behaviour with a force brands are unprepared for. The opportunity is to move in step with these changes as they go from the margin to the mainstream.
33_Zero’s sister organisation, Earthtopia, is one of the largest eco-communities on TikTok with a much bigger audience than Greenpeace or Extinction Rebellion and provides a unique window into the consumer change-makers leading the charge.
We offer brands the opportunity to research with the Earthtopia community and draw on our strategic focus on net zero culture to develop creative solutions to the biggest challenges and opportunities that face them today.
Email jamesp@33seconds.co to find out more.