Social influence can help tackle climate change
4 August 2026
The power of social influence could be key to changing attitudes and behaviours around climate change, according to a new study.
A new paper by researchers at the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) has examined the role of social influence in accelerating climate action, outlining how celebrities, athletes, healthcare workers, religious leaders, hairdressers, small business owners, family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues all have the ability to influence climate action.
Dr Briony Latter, from CAST and Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, said: “Addressing climate change requires widespread behavioural and societal change, so it’s important to understand how social influence can be utilised as part of that.”
We wanted to bring together evidence about the influence that different groups of people have and the different ways in which they could play a pivotal role in engagement and action on climate change.
The new paper, published in Nature Climate Change, places the Messenger, the Audience, the Mode of Influence, and the Behavioural Domain within a framework for climate-related social influence. This four-dimensional framework serves as both an analytical tool for researchers and a practical guide for policymakers, communicators, and organisations seeking to encourage sustainable behaviour.
The messenger
The messenger refers to the source of influence. Messengers may range from celebrities, athletes and politicians to healthcare workers, religious leaders, hairdressers, small business owners, family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. Organisations such as governments, businesses and media outlets can also shape behaviour through policies and campaigns. The effectiveness of a messenger depends on their trustworthiness, credibility and relevance to the audience.
The audience
The audience is shaped by factors such as age, income, values, identity, beliefs and political orientation. Audiences are not passive recipients of information however, and two-way engagement between messengers and audiences can be important.
The mode of influence
This examines how influence occurs, including through conversations, media, role modelling, social media, and the messages and actions from institutions. Establishing social norms also matters, as people often look to others to determine which behaviours are socially acceptable. Effective influence depends on aligning the messenger, audience and mode of influence.
The behavioural domain
This focuses on the behaviours being targeted – for instance, people’s use of transport, their diet, energy use, civic participation and professional actions. Behaviours that are highly visible (e.g. cycling), socially meaningful (e.g. choosing a plant-based diet) or where the best option is uncertain (e.g. deciding whether to install a heat pump) tend to be more susceptible to social influence, as it is in these situations that people often rely on social cues to guide their decisions.
“Our framework of social influence for climate action highlights the interaction between these four key dimensions as critical for driving climate action, and demonstrates how users can explore this in myriad ways to support greater climate engagement,” added Dr Latter.
CAST member Dr Sam Hampton from the Department of Psychology at Bath said: “While there is widespread public concern about the effects of climate change, the changes that are needed to reduce its worst impacts are not happening quickly enough.”
Green choices and lifestyles need to become mainstream.
“To achieve this, we need to use the influence of different people and lean on social norms to cultivate environmentally friendly behaviours.
“In this paper, we review the literature on social influence for climate action, highlighting examples of success and identifying opportunities to use influence more smartly, to target particular behaviours and audiences, and to use the influence of key messengers like celebrities, brands and everyday community influencers.”
CAST is a collaboration between the University of Bath, the University of Manchester, the University of East Anglia and Cardiff University, as well as the charity Climate Outreach.
The article, Social influence shapes climate attitudes and action, was published in Nature Climate Change.
