Strategic Environmental Communication for SDG 13: Enhancing Climate Awareness Analyzing the impact of persuasive campaigns on public perception

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most urgent problems worldwide that can be solved only with the efficient communication strategies that should promote the creation of awareness and the modification of behavior. The paper assesses the contribution of strategic environmental communication toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 which aims at climate action. In particular, it examines how persuasive campaigns affect the perceptions, knowledge, and activity of the people as regards to the climate issue. The study analyses critical determinants of how the audience will receive these messages through a mixed-methods research design, which combines the methods of survey, focus-group, and content analysis of campaign material. Results indicate that awareness and intention to practice pro-environmental behavior are greatly enhanced when employing narrative storytelling and local relevance in the campaigns. Nevertheless, the audience segmentation, misinformation and the inability to reach so many audiences are some of the challenges that affect the effectiveness of this type of advertising. Overall, the study highlights the necessity of culturally specific communication plans and provides policymakers, environmental groups, and communicators everything they need to know to maximize climate awareness campaigns.