SECA held a Knowledge Sharing session on 23 September with Ben McCallan of Zero Carbon Guildford who talked about how to frame the messaging to encourage takeup of green home energy technologies
Many SECA member groups are working to promote greener home energy choices, but this can be challenging work.There are still many obstacles to ensuring it is normal and straightforward for an individual to choose to take action on home energy.
Ben McCallan, of Zero Carbon Guildford and Surrey County Council (SCC) led a Knowledge Sharing session on 23 September looking at the barriers to adoption of green energy and how to tackle them, and asking how local energy groups can change perceptions on home energy solutions to help speed up the low carbon transition.
You can watch a video recording here, and see Ben’s slides here.
Part of Ben’s job as Greener Futures Engagement Lead at SCC is to bridge the gap between councils, who write policy, and community groups, who deliver the action.
Ben cited “people being busy, having bigger day to day issues, not knowing who to trust, and not seeing what’s in it for them personally,” as some of the barriers to adoption which could potentially be tackled through better messaging.
He conceded that it’s hard to persuade people to adopt new green technologies, to combat the myths, and to find the time as a busy volunteer to hone the right message. It’s no longer enough to post on social media and expect everyone to sign up. But while people may be busy, they will make time for things that personally benefit them. It’s worth considering whether we’re approaching them in the right way, and reframing the message to match their concerns.
Reframe the message
Climate change is not a top concern for many people Ben said. But you can reframe it as a cost of living argument – that energy efficiency could cut their bills dramatically, or a healthcare argument – that fewer damp, cold homes mean less illness and less pressure on health services, or an economic and jobs argument – that there are 300,000 homes in Surrey which need retrofitting and not enough skilled people.
“There are a load of jobs available as part of a massively growing potential sector here which really can help boost the economy,” he said. “What we need to do is start reframing this to show that it’s a problem that impacts literally every walk of life, especially in the coming 10, 20, 30 years.”
Ben identified lack of trust as a significant concern, with a confusing array of bodies managing grants, and the risk of scammers emerging to take advantage of the unwary. A report by Dr Tom Roberts of the University of Surrey, Understanding the Leaky Pipeline of Energy Saving Home Improvements, found that a scheme was more trusted if it was endorsed by a local authority and had the involvement of community groups.
Most of all, it’s important to frame the message in the right words. Too many acronyms, too much jargon, too much “save the planet” can all be off-putting to some audiences. Appealing to values they care about, stressing a shared vision and framing it as local, on the ground action to improve the local community as part of a bigger framework, can all be more effective.
Ben referred here to Britain Talks Climate, an evidence-based, shared resource that can be used to anchor climate campaigning and communications in a deeper understanding of the British public’s core values and beliefs. Resources from Ben’s Knowledge Sharing session on Britain Talks Climate in March 2024 are here.
Telling someone to replace their gas boiler with a heat pump to tackle climate change is a message that will land with people who are already taking action but risks alienating a much larger group.
The message will land with Progressive Activists, who really care about climate change, and with Established Liberals, who are wealthier and see the benefits of investing for long-term cost savings. But it alienates Backbone Conservatives and Disengaged Traditionalists, who make up 33% of the persona types nationally. So you’ve alienated a bigger percentage than you’ve engaged, without landing on three of the types which make up about 40% of everybody else.
And the ones you have engaged are probably already implementing the behaviour change that you’re trying to drive, so you’re actually only really impacting perhaps 5-10% of people who haven’t yet made the change.
Managing risk
The messaging needs to bridge the chasm between the Innovators and Early Adopters and the much larger Early Majority, who will need more convincing. “If we’re going to start driving mass uptake of retrofit equipment and technology, we need to figure out how to bring these guys along quickly, and a big part of that is they are more risk averse, and they need to have specific concerns and risks addressed, and one of the best ways to do that is to find trusted messengers whom they identify with,” Ben said.
Ben said it was also vital to have facts and figures available to enable a nuanced discussion to combat persistent myths around green energy, such as that heat pumps don’t work in cold weather (they seem to work in Norway), cavity wall insulation causes damp, or EVs cause fires (Surrey Fire and Rescue says they catch fire less often than regular cars).
“Behaviour change doesn’t magically just happen, right? We can’t just post something on social media and tell people to do X, Y, Z, and they’re going to get up and do it. Firstly, they’ve got to be able to do it. They’ve got to be able to get around all the barriers. And secondly, there needs to be investment and stuff for them to actually be able to do it.”
Ben described Zero Carbon Guildford’s Home Energy Advice Taskforce (HEAT) project, which has supported over 600 homes the start of the year with thermal imaging surveys, written reports and signposting to grants that they’d probably be eligible for. They’re now teaming up with SCC which is establishing a one stop shop to help people design retrofits and access funding, with Zero providing the in-person energy advice element.
Ben talked about how to design messaging to bring a wide range people along with the project, focusing on a shared destiny narrative rather than specifically on climate change, with secondary messaging around co-benefits like energy security, green jobs, and holding unaccountable corporations to account.
The narrative for the HEAT project is that it’s training residents to help their neighbours and communities deal with the cost of living crisis, reduce their bills and stay healthy by reducing damp and mould in their homes. Cost of living, and health, he said, are two great messages to focus on. “Almost everybody cares about those two things, almost everybody’s impacted by them.”
Ben stressed the need to really listen to people, understand their values and their barriers, and then work with them to find trusted messengers that resonate with more of the non-usual suspects. And he concluded with a checklist of six key factors in driving behavioural change that Zero had followed and that he recommended for use in designing further projects.
Ben McCallan is Greener Futures Engagement Lead at Surrey County Council and a founder of Zero Carbon Guildford. He can be contacted at ben@zerocarbonguildford.org.