On 10-11 May, Copper joined colleagues from across the RSK Group for the annual All-Energy conference in Glasgow.
On the first day of the conference, Copper’s Director of Energy Infrastructure Sam Cranston led a session exploring whether the next UK general election will be won or lost on climate change.
The session shared findings from our latest public attitudes report exploring this question and what the energy industry can learn from voters’ intentions.
The main takeaways were:
- Today’s issues matter most – Voters are focused on what they are feeling and seeing now – less money in their pockets, higher bills and costs, a growing NHS waiting list, strikes and the concerns around immigration, which voters feel is stretching already struggling public services.
- The next election will not be won on climate change, but it could swing voters – Do not expect climate and environmental policies or pledges to feature front and centre at the next election – these messages will not deliver the same cut through as those focused on economic stability and measures to control inflation.
- Climate change is important to people – Although political parties might strategically focus their messaging on the top issues in the electorate’s minds, this does not mean the sector should turn quiet on the climate emergency. The world continues to warm and the major political parties continue to double down on ever more ambitious climate targets that they need the sector to deliver.
- Different audiences require different messages – Narratives supporting low-carbon energy will no longer work if delivered in a one-size-fits-all fashion. We need to catch up with other sectors that deliver more bespoke and focused messages to voters. This, in turn, gives politicians a better opportunity to reflect voter priorities.
You can read the report, ‘Will the next general election be won or lost on climate change?’ here – All-Energy-Attitudes-report-2023.pdf (copperconsultancy.com)
