As climate communication takes centre stage in the global push for environmental action, our latest EPIC India Dialogue explored how we can tell climate stories that truly connect with people and compel action.
The Dialogue convened representatives from leading think tanks, CSOs, academia that included CEEW, CDIR, ICCT India, Sustainable Futures Collaborative, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University, Climate Asia, and Swaniti, and featured insights from Andy Uhler, our guest speaker – an award-winning public radio correspondent and Journalism Fellow at the University of Texas Energy Institute, in conversation with our Regional Director of Communications – Ashirbad Raha. It sparked conversations around story framing, ethics, data accessibility, and the role of technology in shaping climate narratives.
The conversation set off with Andy setting the tone by highlighting the importance of humanising climate narratives, emphasising the need to connect with audiences on a personal level by focusing on how climate issues affect individuals’ daily lives. He highlighted the challenge of making complex data and research accessible and compelling, suggesting the use of data visualisation and contextualization to bridge the gap between empirical research and public understanding.
The conversation then shifted to the power of framing and how presenting climate issues through familiar lenses like business, public health, or air quality can help stories stand out in crowded media spaces. Andy also stressed the need for journalists and researchers to collaborate, while highlighting the value of data-led tools in strengthening climate narratives.
Andy suggested that researchers should be trained to better engage with media, and with the advancement of AI in journalism, he expressed concerns about its potential to automate storytelling while maintaining the human element.
While participants and fellow climate communicators shared their doubts and challenges, the discussion focused on challenges in climate communication, particularly how to balance political will with the urgency of climate action.
The Dialogue wrapped up with a strong call to action: communicators were encouraged to craft stories that not only resonate with policymakers but also connect with the public, and to push for cross-sector storytelling that bridges the gap between science, policy, and public understanding. The way to do it is we help tell the climate urgent stories via the help of researchers, their research, their data or policymakers on their efforts, and we credit them. They, in return, give us their exclusive, share their strategy so we can share it with the public and tone down the jargon research into digestible bytes for the common man.
As the world grapples with climate urgency and communication fatigue, this Dialogue served as a timely reminder that how we tell the story is just as critical as the story itself.