The Climate Conversation: 26 November 2009
26 November 2009
The latest commentary (at 26 November):
Many developments continue to drive the Climate Conversation forward.
- US activity has been headlined with the news that Barack Obama will attend the COP15 summit on 9 December. Though welcomed by the larger part of the Climate Conversation, the announcement solicited criticism from NGO leaders for his one-day commitment in the first week, rather than more time at the end of the summit when key decisions will be made.
- The US also confirmed it is to cut greenhouse gas emissions ‘in the range of 17%’ despite legislation for such promises not having made it through Senate yet.
- Climategate has continued to dominate the Climate Conversation as a story. Academics have gained prominence in the Climate Conversation as they highlight the incident is indication of how desperate sceptics have become in the lead-up to COP15. In contrast, others feel it undermines climate change academics because of their inability to respond to the accusations made.
- Meanwhile, the EU has shown signs of taking on the role of arbiter between the US and China. The recent conclusion of a meeting between 27 EU environment ministers has led to an appeal for a rise in the level of ambition from the US and China. This has directly affected the Climate Conversation and the ‘legislative implications of climate change’ has re-emerged as a prominent topic.
The COP15 Top 15
- Barack Obama remains the most prominent person to feature in the Climate Conversation with nearly five times as much media coverage as President of China, Hu Jintao, who sits in second most prominent position.
- Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia has risen in prominence, moving from eighth to fifth position on the influencer charts following interviews with leading media titles in Australia and the UK.
- Fellow antipodean Cate Blanchett has also risen to prominence (now number 6 on the celebrity rankings), leading a new campaign on behalf of the Copenhagen Climate Council.
Key media topics
Consistency in the three leading topics
- The ‘expectations of COP15 outcomes’, ‘developed nations and emissions’ and ‘consequences of climate change’ remain the three most discussed topics across print, blogs and Twitter.
Climate Conversation gains online momentum
- When compared proportionally, a substantial increase in the number of discussions in the blogosphere (but not in print or on Twitter) around the top three topics suggests the Climate Conversation is, increasingly, an online discussion.
- The most discussed topic in the Climate Conversation, ‘expectations of COP15 outcomes’, is now, when compared proportionally, more discussed on blogs (67% of the 500 most active sites) than in print (64% of the most active publications) or Twitter (45% of the most active Twitter accounts)
EU arbiter role emerges
- Following the recent meeting between EU environment ministers, discussions around the EU’s role at COP15 have increased, and look set to continue as the meeting between the EU and China on 30 November approaches. The topic is now one of the top five discussed in the Climate Conversation.
Topics by influencer type
NGOs quick to respond
- NGOs, led by Greenpeace and WWF, have doubled their contribution to conversations around the legislative implications of climate change in three days (with an increase from 5% to10% of most active print, blogs and Twitter accounts). The topic is, however, still dominated by political figures that make up three-quarters of the conversation across the same media.
Climategate forces academics to act – but politicians steer clear
- Discussions around the consequences of climate change are dominated by academics following the Climategate incident and their reactive response to the negative exposure. Academics now account for 44% of coverage across most active print, blogs and Twitter accounts. For politicians, this is the least discussed with only 15% contributing to the discussion across the same.
Global Carbon Emissions – emerging topic
- An emerging topic in the Climate Conversation is that of ‘global carbon emissions’ following the meeting of EU environment ministers on 23rd November. The topic is currently an evenly balanced discussion between politicians (31% of most active print, blogs and Twitter accounts are covering the topic) and academics (31%). Corporate representatives are also voicing their opinion in the area (13%).
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