In October 2024, Re.Climate and EcoAnalytics hosted two webinars introducing a new way of thinking about Canadians’ perspectives on climate change while exploring new opportunities to inspire action. The webinars focused on new research by Dr. Erick Lachapelle and Marjolaine Martel-Morin of EcoAnalytics, and Dr. Louise Comeau, Re.Climate’s Senior Advisor. In the first webinar, Dr. Lachapelle and Dr. Comeau provided an in-depth analysis of the five audience segments that emerged from a survey of 6,000 Canadians and 13 focus groups: Progressive activists, Civic nationals, Centrist liberals, Disengaged middle and Fossil fuel conservatives.
In the second webinar, Dr. Comeau was joined by communications consultant Chris Hatch and My Climate Plan co-founder Jamie Biggar to discuss what narratives and images work best to reach audience segments like Civic nationals who care so much about climate change but aren’t yet engaged. Jamie shared how My Climate Plan used these segments in the Don’t Let Canada Burn campaign to target Civic nationals, aiming to double financial support for wildland firefighters.
Who are The Five Canadas?
In an effort to get a full picture of audience segments in Canada, Dr. Lachapelle and the EcoAnalytics team included questions about broader social and political values beyond in their survey. As a result, we know a great deal about what each segment values in general, which can help communicators frame their messaging more effectively around what each segment finds threatening, or what they hold dear.
“One of the most important insights from our segmentation research is that a majority of Canadians across different segments care about climate change to some degree, even though the level of concern and urgency varies across segments,” said Dr. Lachapelle.
“This creates a strong foundation for engagement.”
Progressive activists
15 per cent of population (4.8 million Canadians)
- This segment is ready to be mobilized, they tend to live in urban areas and be younger and female.
- They don’t shy away from talking about climate change with friends and family.
Civic nationals
21 per cent of population (7 million Canadians)
- This segment is open to being mobilized. They tend to be older and female and value service to others.
- Civic nationals enjoy outdoor activities and are community-minded; many also occasionally talk about climate change with friends and family.
Centrist liberals
20 per cent of population (6.5 million Canadians)
- This segment is cautiously open to being mobilized. They are concentrated in the middle class and favour free markets. They support immigration and hold progressive values.
- Far fewer Centrist liberals talk about climate change with their families and friends than in the previous two segments.
Disengaged middle
30 per cent of population (9 million Canadians)
- This segment is less likely to vote than the others and they identify working- or middle-class.
- They are the least likely to talk about climate change with friends and family and are also less open to joining a campaign.
Who makes up the fifth segment in Canada? Fossil fuel conservatives, who make up 14 per cent of the population, or 5 million Canadians. According to Dr. Lachapelle and Dr. Comeau, this segment is the hardest to engage.
However, Dr. Lachapelle added, “knowing more about the reasons why Fossil fuel conservatives oppose these policies may help develop communication strategies designed to preempt and debunk competitive messages coming from out of this camp that may influence other segments.”
The research also revealed that knowing which segment a person belonged to was a better predictor of climate policy support, even more than knowing that person’s political leanings.
Though people clearly care about climate change, most segments still don’t talk to their family and friends about it, nor do they tend to post about climate change on social media. Even Progressive activists, the most supportive of climate action among all segments, aren’t using social media as much to advocate for what they believe in.
How to Reach The Five Canadas
Meet Segments Where They Are
Knowing what segments value and what their other concerns are should inform how communicators craft their messaging strategies.
For example, messaging that targets Centrist liberals might emphasize the economic opportunities tied to climate policies that invest in the renewable energy industry.
“These data reinforce the need to connect climate action with more immediate concerns for nearly all segments, like economic stability, health and affordability. Messaging needs to emphasize how climate solutions can address these top-priority issues,” said Dr. Lachapelle.
The research also dispels the myth that Canadians with more conservative or traditional values aren’t concerned about climate change. In fact, climate change is a top concern for Civic nationals. They are in favour of getting prepared for extreme weather associated with climate change and are ready to be mobilized. The difference lies in what solutions they will support.
When My Climate Plan created messaging for its Don’t Let Canada Burn campaign, calling for a doubling of support for firefighters, it specifically targeted Civic national audiences, asking them to sign a petition. Their messaging got strong responses.
“What we saw was people were keen to support the firefighters and the farmers who were asking them as a call to action on this. They felt very sympathetic to them and wanted to help,” said Jamie Biggar.
Three Top Messaging Tips from Our Research
1. Hold polluters accountable
“After decades of research, we know fairness perceptions are pretty much the fundamental way that everyone evaluates a policy,” said Dr. Comeau.
Four of the five segments are very receptive to messaging arguing that polluters pay their fair share.
“But what we found in the focus groups was that if we weren’t careful, there could be risks in how we hold them accountable,” said Dr. Comeau.
Focussing solely on the oil and gas industry as the big perpetrators of climate change may, in fact, turn some of the segments off.
Instead, Dr. Comeau suggested avoiding “finger-pointing” and emphasizing the common sense of all industries doing their fair share of reducing emissions through regulation.
It’s an approach that works. When people signed the My Climate Plan petition, the team followed up to ask them who they thought should pay for this extra support for firefighters: government revenue, people, or “big polluters,” which could include oil and gas but also car and cement manufacturers, and the mining industry.
“What we found was that yes, 72.7 per cent want the money to come from big polluters most responsible for climate change. We were very happy to see that.”
2. Stick to gain framing for stronger engagement
Messages that sound like they are shaming people into making green choices will not go over well with any segment. It is critical to focus on what people will gain from installing a heat pump instead of what they will lose if they don’t.
Overall, messaging should avoid sounding coercive. If your campaign focuses on getting people to install heat pumps or solar panels or take up EVs, ensure you are using trusted messengers.
Civic nationals, Centrist liberals, and the Disengaged middle reported wanting to hear from people on the ground who interact with climate solutions in their work. People like heat pump installers, electricians, and car salespeople, for example, speak from experience and expertise. They deal with the technology every day.
3. Emphasize that Canada has a role to play in reducing global emissions
There is still a misconception that Canada is not a major polluter and that our actions won’t make a difference in reducing global emissions. Remind audiences that every tonne we reduce is a win for climate action. Emphasize that other big polluters like the U.S. or China are cutting their emissions, and we don’t want to fall behind.
This points to another important finding in the research: across all segments, communicators still need to bring home that climate change is primarily caused by human activities. Only 10 million Canadians strongly agree with this fact.
At a moment when climate communicators face an increasingly uphill battle, the research presented by Dr. Lachapelle and Dr. Comeau offers some hope and reassurance that many Canadians do care about climate change and can get engaged; it all depends on the context and the care with which we deliver the message.
“You can get a long way through talking about what you each care about, and be patient and listen to each other. Take the time to come back to conversations over time. We can do these things, but it does take some care,” said Dr. Comeau.
Download our playbook and tip sheet today and please tell us if you plan to use it. We’d love to hear from you! If there is anything we can do to support your practice, whether it is a tailored briefing or help with specific communication challenges, please reach out to us.
Watch the Recordings
Our Panellists
Dr. Louise Comeau | Re.Climate Senior Advisor | Member of the Net Zero Advisory Body
Louise is a Senior Advisor at Re.Climate, Carleton University’s centre for climate change communications and public engagement. She is also a member of the federal Net Zero Advisory Body. Louise has more than 30 years’ experience in climate change policy, communications, and solutions-related advocacy and programming. She holds a doctorate in environmental management, focused on environmental ethics and behaviour change from the University of New Brunswick.
Erick Lachapelle | Professor of Political Science, Université de Montréal | EcoAnalytics Researcher
Erick is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Montreal where he teaches classes on the politics of climate change and energy policy. He is also a researcher for EcoAnalytics. Erick has more than 10 years’ experience developing and analyzing surveys and survey experiments in the area of climate change, energy policy and communications. His research examines the politics of risk and communication about complex policy problems, like climate change, with a focus on the political, social and psychological factors shaping perceptions, behaviour and policy.
Chris Hatch | Communications Consultant | Re.Climate
Chris currently works as a strategic consultant on energy and climate change. He is the former Executive Editor for National Observer and was previously Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network. Chris has a background in campaigns and strategic communications on clean energy, climate change, human rights and environmental issues and has worked with NGOs, First Nations, foundations, governments and corporations.
Jamie Biggar | Co-Founder | My Climate Plan
Jamie has a decades-long track record of co-founding high-impact organizations that empower people to improve their climate, democracy and economy. Before starting work on My Climate Plan full-time, Jamie served as the global leader of the country-based citizen-empowerment teams at Change.org, overseeing their work to help 80 million people around the world win their campaigns in 2021 alone.
