Can we help reduce greenhouse gas emissions with message framing?

By Judith Meijer, MSc student Political Communication

Here’s a surprising fact about renewable energy in The Netherlands: it’s not going very well, to put it mildly. We are lacking behind compared to all other European countries when it comes to renewable energy with the almost embarrassing number of 5.6%. Only Malta and Luxembourg are doing worse. To give a comparison, Norway is at 66% and Portugal is at 45%. Per person, Dutch citizens pollute the sky with over 10,6 tons of carbon dioxide. But why does this matter you might ask? It was only a few months ago that the COP 21 in Paris set a new goal for the Netherlands. In order to participate in the global goal of not going past the 2 degrees mark, we have to increase our green energy percentage from 5% to 14% before the year 2020. Unfortunately, it with the amount of coals we still use for our energy, this does not seem like a very realistic goal. Between 2013 and 2014 the use of coal for producing energy has only increased instead of decreased with the staggering amount of 20 per cent.

Another problem facing the Netherlands is green washing of energy. Dutch households are actually in the top 3 when it comes to actively choosing green energy. Over 60% of Dutch households choose green energy when switching from energy company. So how it is possible that with all those green households, we are still in the bottom three when it comes to green energy production? This is where the beautiful Dutch word sjoemelstroom comes in play. Sjoemelstroom (literally: cheating energy) is the concept where big Dutch energy companies act as if they sell green energy, when in fact they bought a certificate with a green stamp from Scandinavian countries whilst still producing energy in the Netherlands with coal power plants.

Another problem facing the Netherlands is green washing of energy. Dutch households are actually in the top 3 when it comes to actively choosing green energy. Over 60% of Dutch households choose green energy when switching from energy company. So how it is possible that with all those green households, we are still in the bottom three when it comes to green energy production? This is where the beautiful Dutch word sjoemelstroom comes in play. Sjoemelstroom (literally: cheating energy) is the concept where big Dutch energy companies act as if they sell green energy, when in fact they bought a certificate with a green stamp from Scandinavian countries whilst still producing energy in the Netherlands with coal power plants.

One of the main challenges of climate change can be seen when looking out the window. What do you see? Blue skies, shining sun, green grass, and singing birds? That’s it right there. For the most part, consequences of climate change are invisible. And when they are visible, it’s usually very geographically distant. Just think about the lonely polar bear on a melting icecap and you’ll know what I’m talking about. This is where framing of news comes in play. Framing is the selection process of certain aspects of a story and attributing a positive or negative value to it. When done right, it can lead to attitude change and mobilization.

Framing climate change policies

So here’s the good news: media can play a big role.  They can influence public awareness through agenda setting and framing of news by selecting certain issues, how frequently they are published and through what frames. Understanding which frames are effective in promoting support for policies related to renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions is without a doubt important. But how to do this exactly proved to be difficult. Research on how climate-related policies are presented by both the media as well as policy makers shows that policies are usually framed in terms of the achievement of potential gains or the avoidance of potential losses. The aim of some policies is to increase energy generation through renewable means, such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power. The aim of others is to reduce the current emission levels of greenhouse gases by imposing regulations on electricity consumption in households. There are no studies that cover media coverage of (green) energy on The Netherlands. However, there has been a lot of research on climate change reporting in other countries. In particular, Bertolotti and Catellani (2010) studied framing effects of policy messages regarding climate change by conducting an experiment amongst Italian university students. The experiment focused on outcome sensitivity and regulatory concern for the policy messages.

Outcome
Here’s what they found: Participants showed the highest amount of agreement with a policy message on renewable energy when it was framed in terms of the achievement of positive, growth-related outcomes. Participant also showed the highest amount of agreement with a greenhouse gas emissions message when it was formulated in terms of the avoidance of negative, safety-related outcomes. The same held for the intention to vote for candidates proposing those policies. The results confirm the usefulness of considering not only gain and loss frames, but also other message frames.

A limitation to the study by Bertolotti and Catllani (2010) concerns the generalizability of the results. Respondents already had quite positive attitudes towards renewable energy and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the first place. In addition, the study was conducted amongst mostly female university students. Therefore, it would be interesting to conduct a similar study, only on a more diverse group who differ more in prior attitudes about greenhouse gas emissions and green energy. Since no prior research has been done on Dutch news coverage of green energy, this also seems to be an interesting road to follow for future research. A topic like this does not only need more attention to improve our scientific knowledge on this topic, it is necessary to make our planet healthy again. As communication scientist, we may not be able to solve global warming, but we might be able to help move things along quicker when it comes to sustainable policies.

 

References

Bertolotti, M., & Catellani, P. (2014). Special issue article : The social psychology of climate change Investigating the effects of knowledge and ideology on climate change beliefs, 429(October 2013), 421–429. http://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2039

Moser, S. C. (2010). Communicating climate change: history, challenges, processes and future directions. WIREs Climate Change, 1, 31–53. http://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.011

https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/achtergrond/2015/48/factsheet-broeikasgassen- klimaattop-parijs

https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/duurzame-energie

https://wisenederland.nl/groene-stroom/wat-sjoemelstroom