Social media enables people-centric climate action in the hard-to-decarbonise building sector
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Published:2022-11-17
Issue:1
Volume:12
Page:
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ISSN:2045-2322
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Container-title:Scientific Reports
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Sci Rep
Author:
Debnath Ramit,Bardhan Ronita,Shah Darshil U.,Mohaddes Kamiar,Ramage Michael H.,Alvarez R. Michael,Sovacool Benjamin K.
Abstract
AbstractThe building and construction sector accounts for around 39% of global carbon dioxide emissions and remains a hard-to-abate sector. We use a data-driven analysis of global high-level climate action on emissions reduction in the building sector using 256,717 English-language tweets across a 13-year time frame (2009–2021). Using natural language processing and network analysis, we show that public sentiments and emotions on social media are reactive to these climate policy actions. Between 2009–2012, discussions around green building-led emission reduction efforts were highly influential in shaping the online public perceptions of climate action. From 2013 to 2016, communication around low-carbon construction and energy efficiency significantly influenced the online narrative. More significant interactions on net-zero transition, climate tech, circular economy, mass timber housing and climate justice in 2017–2021 shaped the online climate action discourse. We find positive sentiments are more prominent and recurrent and comprise a larger share of the social media conversation. However, we also see a rise in negative sentiment by 30–40% following popular policy events like the IPCC report launches, the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal. With greater online engagement and information diffusion, social and environmental justice topics emerge in the online discourse. Continuing such shifts in online climate discourse is pivotal to a more just and people-centric transition in such hard-to-decarbonise sectors.
Funder
Laudes Foundation
Keynes Fund
Alan Turing Institute
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Cambridge Judge Business School
Quadrature Climate Foundation
UK Space Agency
Resnick Sustainability Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability, California Institute of Technology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Multidisciplinary
Reference110 articles.
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4. IEA. Energy Technology Perspectives 2020 (2020).
5. BuildingtoCOP26. Accelerating deep collaboration: 26 built environment climate action initiatives announced at COP26 (2021).
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