Kirsty A O'Callaghan

Young people will experience increasingly severe climate impacts, yet they also hold the capacity to design and drive transformative societal shifts toward sustainable futures. Recent research shows that the ways in which young people develop their knowledge about climate change are influenced principally by family dialogue, climate education, youth movements, and examples of youth voices in climate action. This study draws on a 24-question online survey, which employed a mixed-methods approach. It examines the climate change information preferences of Australian and New Zealand youth (ages 16–25), focusing on whom they consider trusted messengers, the significance of communicator gender, and the role of eco-anxiety and political disillusionment in determining engagement and activism. By understanding the preferences and motivations of young people, climate change communicators can develop more effective strategies for enabling youth to acquire and process balanced information that will feed into strategies for a long-term sustainable future. This study builds on existing literature in the field of children’s geographies, relating to climate change communication, that seeks to understand and support youth views.

Effective climate change communication is central to public engagement, self-efficacy, and support for mitigation and adaptation policies. Yet, communicators face numerous challenges, such as misinformation, climate despair, and the complexity of climate science. This study examines the views of 29 climate change communicators from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to evaluate the alignment between practitioner insights and research-backed strategies. Findings confirm the significance of audience segmentation, localized, and solution-focused messaging and collaborative approaches. A four-pillar framework, consisting of simplicity and local relevance, audience segmentation, storytelling, and actionable steps, emerges as a strategic model for enhancing the communication impact. This study offers a structured guide for improving climate communication effectiveness within diverse sociopolitical contexts by integrating theoretical insights with practitioner perspectives.