Let’s face it, the planet isn’t everyone’s priority. According to a Climate Reality Barometer survey conducted across 39 economies, Generation Z — also known as “Generation COP,” since the designation applies to those born after the first U.N. climate summit in 1995 — cares more about inflation than it does about climate.
This data, and corresponding protests across many countries — protests against rising housing costs and stagnating wages, to name just a couple inflationary examples — explains why the climate community is finally, however awkwardly, starting to lean into equity issues. But there’s so much more to do.
If we’re going to build a political mandate for climate action, we need to prove that the process of decarbonizing buildings and cities is going to improve people’s lives — especially those from low income and marginalized communities, as well as those primarily concerned with the cost of living. They need to see and understand that life will be easier, that heating their homes will be cheaper and that job opportunities will be better.
Thus, rather than leading with climate data and science while promoting health, safety and economic “co-benefits” as bonus add-ons, climate advocates need to flip the script. Climate needs to become the co-benefit, and we need to lead with what people care about most instead — and for most people, the top concern continues to be economic issues, far above climate.
If we want to accelerate climate action, people need to see and experience its real-life benefits. And they need to see it soon because there’s a growing backlash against climate policy in cities around the world.
In Europe, for example, there’s been a worrying reactionary response to climate action in recent months. From the farmers’ protests in the Netherlands to the heating hammer in Germany, from the Yellow Vests in France to the backlash against the 15-minute city and “Ultra-Low Emission Zones” in the United Kingdom, climate action is being weaponized across the Continent.