Digital climate coalition

Changing the conversation on climate change
Organisation
Climate Nexus, sponsored through Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
Grant
DKK 1,378,000
Programme Area
Cross-cutting Projects
Year
2020-2021

The nature of public discourse has gone through a transformation. Online platforms are replacing traditional print, TV and radio as the conversation medium for society – locally and globally – becoming the primary outlet for news and information. Reporters are relying on Twitter for information. News outlets are dependent on Facebook for distribution of their articles. Digital platforms have opened the door to completely new ways of reaching and influencing a vast amount of people in a very cost-effective and targeted manner. In the climate fight, investments so far in digital tactics and strategy are vastly outmatched by opponents who delay, distract and harm the necessary will to act.

Climate Nexus has created a coalition of some of the leading specialists in digital media and campaigning in order to advance an ambitious agenda on climate change and combat the gross misinformation that is being spread on social media platforms. The Digital Climate Coalition has been created to assist a broad field of climate actors in the digital space, elevating current climate campaigns (on science, on health, on investment) and acting as a hub for knowledge and best practice. Unable to match the opposition dollar for dollar, they instead try to supercharge growing networks with smarter and faster coordination and learning, thereby improving digital expertise in the climate and energy field, based on measured audience reach, message analysis and distribution, shared campaigns and strengthened relationships across the climate communications space.

Climate Nexus
Climate Nexus, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, works to change the conversation on climate change and clean energy from an argument to a constructive search for solutions. They find and tell stories of how people are impacted by climate change and highlight clean energy transition with its economic, health and environmental benefits. These conversations cross traditional boundaries of audiences, nations and economic sectors with an aim to learn what moves audiences in South America as well as the U.S. South, China and Africa, Australia and India. The Digital Climate Coalition consists of Climate Action Campaign, Climate Advocacy Lab, Energy Media, GSCC, Purpose, The Solutions Project, The YEARS Project and Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
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Aims of the project:

  • Improve digital expertise in the climate and energy field, based on measured audience reach, message analysis and distribution, shared campaigns and strengthened relationships across the climate communications space and to frontline and other advocacy organizations.
  • Feed into a central hub to gather and synthesise lessons learned from each organisation’s campaigns.
  • Improve public understanding of climate change impacts and clean energy solutions.
  • Ensure that practitioners and leaders are up to speed on evolving best practices, new opportunities and emerging threats.
  • Ensure that frontline organisations are a fundamental and equal partner in the wheel.
”In my experience, it’s rare to have a cause in which the entire world wants to participate. I’m used to working in global health, where rich-world governments and companies occasionally need to be reminded why they should care. Not so with climate change. People around the world from all walks of life want to do something meaningful about it.
Bill Gates, My Green Manifesto, Financial Times