Research trends on climate communication in the post-truth era

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objectives Climate change is a vital environmental issue that every citizen in the world needs to be concerned about. Individually and collectively, regionally and globally, citizens should make informed decisions to overcome the climate crisis. However, in recent years, people are exposed to climate-related misinformation, disinformation, and scientific information through various social channels. Method This research aimed to investigate how climate communication has been positioned within peer-reviewed empirical research articles. A systematic review of 88 empirical research articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science databases between 2010 and 2020 has been performed. Results The findings revealed that while the emphasis has been on climate communication for adaptation in the majority of the articles, framing, risk perception, and mitigation have also been highly addressed. Nearly half of the reviewed articles were based on multi-way communication including engagement in discussions, participation in pro-environmental behavior (n=43), while the rest adopted one-way communication to address climate issues (n=45). Conclusion Communicating climate science with the public has emerged as a significant goal among climate scientists, but there is no consensus on how to do it effectively. This research can provide evidence-based indicators for where more emphasis should be placed on future climate communication research.