Understanding six “key truths” about climate change predicts policy support, discussion, and political advocacy

Abstract Effective communication is critical in efforts to limit and manage the risks of climate change. One empirical approach to crafting effective communication is to start with communication objectives, that is, the attitudes and actions one seeks to influence, then identify the beliefs that are most strongly associated with those objectives, and end by developing and delivering messages to promote those beliefs. This planning process can be iterative over time as the relevant key beliefs evolve. Here, we use data from a US nationally-representative survey conducted in 2023 ( n = 1,011) to assess the degree to which six key truths often used by communicators to predict important attitudes (support for government action on climate change) and behaviors (seeking and sharing information about climate change, and engaging in political advocacy to support climate action): (1) climate change is happening (‘ It’s real’ ); (2) human activity is causing climate change (‘ It’s us’ ); (3) there is a scientific consensus about human-caused climate change (‘ Experts agree’ ); (4) climate change harms people (‘ It’s bad’ ); (5) a majority of people are concerned about climate change and support climate action (‘ Others care’ ); and (6) actions can be taken to limit the harm (‘ There’s hope’ ). We found that all six key truths are highly predictive of at least one, and in some instances many, of the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes analyzed. These findings suggest that communicating the six key truths about climate change has the potential to help build public and political will for climate solutions.