How do multiple Chinese actors conduct environmental communication on World Environment Day (2013–2022): a mixed-methods study

This paper analyses the environmental communication of three actors in China (government, media, and public) on World Environment Day (WED) from 2013 to 2022. It employs ‌social network analysis (SNA) and content analysis‌ to compare the topics and strategies of each participant, ‌thereby generalizing China’s environmental communication experience‌. The study reveals three distinct approaches aligned with China’s WED themes: government communications emphasize policy narratives (48.11% contextual frames), media focus on scientific translation (33.33% science education), while public discourse balances support (64.02% positive) with critical demands (11.40% negative). The strategic use of localized themes and positive framing (government: 97.17%, media: 93.65%) effectively coordinates multi-stakeholder participation, as evidenced by quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) correlations reaching a relatively high level in 2021–2022. These findings demonstrate how theme localization and role differentiation can harmonize policy consistency with public engagement in environmental campaigns.