Climate Visuals launches new guidelines for engaging, accurate and ethical visual storytelling of climate-linked migration.

As climate change reshapes patterns of migration and displacement, photography will play an important role in contributing to an accurate understanding of a complex topic. Compelling visual storytelling can effectively engage audiences with detail, nuance, context and empathy, yet visualising climate-linked migration presents a significant challenge.

We know images can have a huge influence, however all too often they are dehumanising and problematic for a variety of reasons, including consent issues and depictions of distress and victimisation. In addition images are often limited to familiar visual cliches, oversimplifying a complex issue and risking perpetuating harmful visual stereotypes.

The guidance is designed to be a practical resource for anyone looking to use photography to tell stories of climate-linked migration - from commissioning new visual reporting, to working with existing archival imagery, and across the media, NGO, campaigning, educational sectors and beyond.

Divided into 10 key principles it contains prompts and considerations for working with photography that tells climate-linked migration stories engagingly, accurately and ethically.

These principles encourage an approach to the visual storytelling of climate-linked migration that centres the people at the heart of the stories being told, whilst protecting the dignity and rights of people on the move and highlighting the nuanced variety of experiences of climate-linked movement.

The resource is informed by insights and perspectives on the photography of climate-linked migration from a wide variety of sources. We conducted online desk research looking at emerging themes in existing photography, and consulted experts across the photojournalism, climate and migration sectors, tapping into our network and coalition of close expert partners. These insights were then combined with our existing evidence base and industry expertise and distilled into the practical guidelines above.

Images from our Visualising Air Pollution collection, produced in collaboration with Clean Air Fund, are being exhibited at the World Health Organisation's Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Cartagena, Colombia.

The images are on display on the Centro de Convenciones in the city until the 28th March and highlight the impacts of dirty air on affected communities alongside clean air solutions in Indonesia, Poland, South Africa and the UK.

Find out more about the project at the link below.

Climate Visuals and The Sunrise Project, funded by ECF, have launched a new collection of images showing the impacts of the energy and cost of living crises, alongside the solutions being put into practice by communities and civil society to drive the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Climate Visuals commissioned photographers Ingmar Nolting in Germany, Kasia Strek in Poland and Mary Turner in the UK to photograph these stories, and their resulting work forms a new collection of images that are freely available for non-profit, educational and editorial use.

We know from our evidence and experience that imagery needs to embody people-centred narratives and positive solutions and resonate with the identity and values of the viewer. The photographs tell a compelling story of the impacts of these parallel crises, whilst making clear the link to tangible, community based solutions that are happening now in response.

Released with wide ranging Creative Commons licences, the images in this collection form a tangible resource for storytellers, organisers and campaigners to use to bring people together, build awareness of community solutions and pressure those with financial and political responsibility to support a just transition to renewable energy.

Photographs that highlight the reality of the school run swamped by SUVs

Powerful new images from Clean Cities’ 'Carspreading' campaign are now available for free non-profit, educational and editorial use via the Climate Visuals library.

The school run should be a moment for fresh air, independence, and a sense of community. But for many children and parents, it's becoming a daily obstacle course—navigating through streets clogged with oversized SUVs. A new set of striking images, now available on the Climate Visuals library, brings this reality into sharp focus.

Captured by photographer Crispin Hughes, these photos vividly illustrate the growing dominance of SUVs in urban environments, particularly around schools. Commissioned as part of Clean Cities’ Carspreading campaign, the images tell a stark story of how the rise of these larger, more polluting vehicles is impacting public space, air quality, and the safety of children.

A Visual Wake-Up Call

The images highlight:

• Children and parents dwarfed by oversized SUVs – showing how these vehicles dominate the road, creating safety hazards and restricting visibility.
• The urban squeeze – demonstrating how more SUVs mean less space for walking, cycling, and safe crossings.
• The climate cost – reminding us that SUVs are one of the fastest-growing sources of carbon emissions, threatening efforts to cut transport pollution.

These visuals serve as a powerful tool for campaigners, media, and policymakers to communicate the urgent need for safer, healthier, and less car-dominated urban environments.

A free to use resource

The full set of images is now available via Climate Visuals, ready to be used in media stories, advocacy materials, and social campaigns. Whether you’re highlighting the impact of SUVs on air pollution, traffic safety, the climate, urban space or something else, these photos provide compelling evidence of the urgent need for action.

In 2024 Climate Visuals passed the milestone of 10,000 registered users (and now over 12,000 as we end the year), images from the library were downloaded over 4,500 times and more than 600 new images were added to the library, including our extensive new collection of air pollution photographs created in partnership with Clean Air Fund.

As we reach the end of 2024, here’s a look at some of the most downloaded images from the library this year:

Women are seen queueing up to plant mangrove saplings along the riverbanks of the Matla river in Sundarbans, India. Sundarbans the world's largest mangrove delta and the only mangrove habitat for the tiger at the confluence of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal. Constant floods and severe cyclones are becoming common events on these islands. Mangrove forest, which protects the islands of Sundarbans, is disappearing either due to high saline water caused by sea-level rise or by illegal fisheries. Experts suggest that mangrove plantations along the riverbank can at least reduce the drastic impacts of these natural calamities and also put a natural barrier for tigers from entering into villages. This village at the gateway of Sundarbans is one of the few examples where locals, mostly women at the forefront, are putting all their effort to protect the coastal environment. Photo credit: Avijit Ghosh / Climate Visuals

Olive trees burn during a wildfire in Greece. Several hundred year old olive tree burns from inside and that is why it is extremely hard for firefighters to control and extinguish the fire in olive trees fields. Photo credit: Milos Bicanski / Climate Visuals Countdown

An aerial view of a deforested zone in "Ñembi Guasu" conservation area. In Guarani language, Ñembi Guasu means “the great refuge.” Unfortunately, the newest Bolivian National Park is being threatened by hundreds of looters or "colonos" who invade the protected areas in the Chaco to expand expand farming land in eastern Bolivia, including Ñembi Guasu in recent years. Photo credit: Marcelo Perez del Carpio / Climate Visuals Countdown

Every winter the National Capital Region of India is covered in a cloud of thick smog. Air quality index monitors max out with ratings of 999 and pollution reaches 50 times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization, making breathing Delhi’s air as bad as smoking 50 cigarettes. Some of the biggest emitters are Delhi’s more than 10 million vehicles, like cars and trucks. Dust from the city’s construction boom is also a contributor to the city’s smog. Brick kilns that burn solid fuels are another factor. So is coal-fired power generation. Photo credit: Raunaq Chopra / Climate Visuals Countdown

Amazonian women during the mobilization for International Women's Day, March 8, 2020. One of the strongest demands of Amazonian women has to do with the sovereignty of their ancestral lands, which are constantly violated in favor of mining and oil companies, ignoring the rights of nature and the people who inhabit these territories. Photo credit: Karen Toro / Climate Visuals Countdown

Crop Burning and its current scale can be traced to agricultural practices adopted during the green revolution of the 70s. It fostered a high dependence on rice and wheat, introducing high yield varieties which were slow to mature. Reducing the time between summer and winter crops leaving small farmers with no access to machinery with no choice but to burn their crop residue. Photo credit: Ishan Tankha / Climate Visuals Countdown

Shaban Mwinji, a community scout ranger, in Ukunda, Kenya. Standing in a restored Mangrove Forest by Mikoko Pamoja. Mikoko Pamoja is a community-led mangrove conservation and restoration project based in southern Kenya and the world's first blue carbon project. It aims to provide long-term incentives for mangrove protection and restoration through community involvement and benefit. Photo Credit: Anthony Ochieng / Climate Visual Countdown

Until 2020, no packing list for a winter's journey to Venice was complete without gumboots. Built atop small lagoon islets, the fabled 1600 year old city of Venice has been a victim of both subsidence and, more significantly, global sea level rise fuelled by climate change. The Italian government has funded construction a series of floodgates to close the lagoon entrance before exceptionally high tide phenomena known as acqua alta. After 17 years marked by delays and drama the MOSE barriers first rose to protect the city from flood on 3 October 2020. But only after the city was hit by floodwaters of 187cm in November 2019. Photo credit:Adam Sébire / Climate Visuals

“We are grateful to the ocean “says Jazaa, she has been working as a seaweed farmer for almost 10 years. She carefully attaches little seaweed seedlings to the rope that she will harvest after 2 months. When the water goes out with the low tide, the coast of Zanzibar transforms into the desert. White sandbanks stretch for miles with shallow pools, rows of sticks and hundreds of seaweed farms. Zanzibar is the world's 3rd largest exporter of seaweed in the world. Seaweed is mainly exported to Asia and Europe and used as a base for cosmetics, toothpaste, medicine and food. 90% of seaweed farmers in Zanzibar are women. In traditionally patriarchal communities in Zanzibar, women tend to stay at home, cook and look after their children. Seaweed farming had created a significant shift in gender relations, helping women to leave homes, earn money and depend on their income. Researchers have found that seaweed can play a huge role in fighting climate change by absorbing carbon emissions, greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere and regenerating marine ecosystems. Large-scale seaweed farms could clean up oceans, restoring biodiversity and increasing the productivity of aquaculture. But in recent years in Zanzibar, the rising temperatures of the Indian Ocean have been killing seaweed due to bacteria called “ice-ice” growing on seaweed causing it to die. To tackle this problem marine biologists suggested moving seaweed farms to deeper much cooler waters. Deepwater seaweed farming will mean that women farmers in Zanzibar need to learn how to swim and adapt to ever-changing seas. Photo credit: Natalija Gormalova / Climate Visuals Countdown

We’re looking forward to 2025 when we’ll be launching new images and guidance resources.

Follow us on Instagram, X, Threads, and Bluesky to keep updated on our work.

Visualising climate linked migration

Images matter. Photographs help audiences to visualise a story, building mental pictures and cues that contribute to how they interpret and ‘see’ an issue.

As a first step we have been looking at the current state of climate-linked migration photography, seeking recurring themes and to identify a prevailing visual language. What follows is a broad outline of some of what we have seen so far.

Prioritising the act of moving over the stories of the people featured

There are two types of image that dominate the visual coverage of climate linked migration - people on the move and people seeking shelter. Images of climate migrants commonly focus on the journey, visually prioritising the act of movement itself, rather than the people in the image and their stories. Often this takes the form of groups of people travelling on foot, carrying their belongings, and moving through a landscape. Regularly this is in the context of fleeing extreme weather events such as flooding and droughts, and the images visually suggest the drama of fleeing an immediate crisis. The other image we typically see is people seeking refuge in camps set up by aid agencies. Often these are generic, stock photographs used to visually represent the idea of climate-linked migration. Both of these image themes often lack context and nuance. Even more significantly they fail to communicate a more detailed story of those featured beyond the original news event. Who are they? What is their story? Where are they now?

Then there’s jeopardy and danger. You see many photographs that emphasise the risks being taken by those on the move. With this comes a heavy presence of photographs taken of people crossing borders, often at night or under the watch of law enforcement and border patrols, riding on the outside of trains, crossing water by boat, and commonly showing children accompanied by adults. These contexts make for dramatic imagery, and images that visually emphasise the risks being taken by those featured, however, does the inherent visual drama of these contexts contribute to an outsize influence of certain flashpoints within the visual storytelling of climate-linked migration? Without more detail, context and space for the stories of those featured to be told, these images can come to represent climate-linked migration without communicating a wider understanding visually. When used as stock imagery, does their inherent visual drama lead to a reduced representation of other forms of migration in the face of a changing climate?

The use of use of stock photography of climate change impacts misses an opportunity to communicate context and nuance

Stock photographs of climate change impacts often accompany images depicting the ‘journey’ of climate-linked migration, and are also frequently used in place of them. These images often depict severe weather events, the destruction they have wrought, and those affected. They are used as visual reasoning for why people need to leave one location for another, and often do this in an emotionally powerful, compelling way. But when stock images are chosen for visual impact alone, this leads to a prioritisation of imagery that is removed from the nuance of a story. Longterm, slower, less obviously visual impacts of climate change are challenging to convey through photography, particularly in a single image, and risk being lost by default of this.

What is often missing from the photography of climate-linked migration is detailed, long-form visual storytelling that centres, in detail and with empathy, the story of those featured. This is particularly true when thinking about the destination and future of those featured in images. Photographs are commonly used in a more illustrative form, adding visual structure to a page or piece of content - this can add context, but often misses an opportunity to engage an audience on a deeper level with compelling, empathetic visuals that communicate a more nuanced reality. In this way, the photography of climate-linked migration is often limited to more surface level visualisations of the issue rather than more complex, engaging visual storytelling.

There are many practical reasons for this, including the cost and time of developing and producing these detailed stories, as well as the frequent need by publishers for more generic, anonymous imagery. However, when images are used in this way it is essential to consider what, and who, is being used to visually define a deeply complex story.

Aiming for more nuanced, detailed and engaging photography

Vast, global issues, such as climate change and climate-linked migration, can be hard for individuals to define visually in their understanding, and images can play a helpful and important role in this, adding context and detail, nuance and emotion to stories. However they can also perpetuate damaging and dangerous narratives. Iconic images and visual tropes can gain outsize influence in their storytelling, and take on the role of defining how an issue is visualised, even if this bares little, or no resemblance to the reality.

Climate Visuals is working on a new project that seeks to create a new set of guidance for the accurate, ethical and effective portrayal of climate-linked migration through photography. The guidance will be a practical resource for anyone working with the photography of climate-linked migration, promoting a way of thinking about images that centres ethical, detailed and accurate visual storytelling and builds on Climate Visuals’ evidence base of what makes for engaging climate change photography, bringing humanity back to the conversation. Through developing this new guidance, specifically focussed on the photography of climate-linked migration, we are seeking to promote a way of thinking about the photography of this issue that prioritises those effective stories, and encourages a photographic practice that is ethical, detailed and nuanced. The guidance will be launched later in the year.

* This work is supporting our migration programme, funded by Unbound Philanthropy. Alongside this Climate Visuals stream of work, we are also looking at research conducted at effectively communicating the intersection of climate change and its impact on patterns of human movement, with new resources being published in Autumn 2024. Sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date with our latest publications.

Climate Visuals and Climate Resilience for All launch new guidance for visualising extreme heat

Fast-growing extreme heat risk is now the biggest killer among climate extreme events. But the scale and seriousness of the threat is hard to portray visually, not least because heat is largely invisible - unlike other climate extremes such as floods and storms - and because many of those suffering its impact do so indoors, out of the public eye. How can photographers and videographers accurately portray extreme heat as the serious threat that it is?

Climate Visuals and Climate Resilience for All have developed new guidance for image commissioners, producers and publishers to promote a more accurate visual representation of extreme heat, one that moves beyond familiar visual cliches and images of fun in the sun, and tells detailed, nuanced, and engaging stories about its risks, as well as helping to visualise adaptation and mitigation.

As global heat records continue to fall, and the death toll rises, Climate Resilience for All, Climate Visuals and photographers at the frontlines of heat impacts launched this resource with an online discussion on 21 August 2024 about how to more effectively tell the story of rising heat risks visually.

Moderator: Laurie Goering, Extreme heat editor, Climate Resilience for All

Panellists:

• Kathy Baughman McLeod, CEO, Climate Resilience for All
• Alastair Johnstone, Climate Visuals manager
• Supratim Bhattacharjee, award-winning Indian climate change photographer
• Bhumika Saraswati, award-winning New Delhi-based writer, photographer and filmmaker

Contact: Climate Visuals

In our ever increasingly visual world, we interact with huge numbers of images online and on social media. How can you use images to help your content stand out?

Choosing your images

Climate Visuals Principles

The Climate Visuals evidence base and guidance is a good starting point when thinking about what images to use, be it on social media or in other contexts. You should be looking to show real people, avoid visual cliches by telling new stories, and as always, understand your audience.

View the rest of the Climate Visuals principles and our other evidence based guidance here.

Thinking about your audience

It is vital to consider your audience when choosing and using photographs. Who are you trying to reach and engage?

When thinking about images for social media make sure to also consider how your target audience will interact with an image, in what context they will see it, and on what specific platforms.

Think about how they will displayed

When looking for potential images to use, you should also consider how your image will be shown to your audience.

For example, will lots of your audience view the image on a mobile device rather than a computer screen? If so, your image needs to be effective at a much smaller size, communicating all the essential information in a small space. You will also need an image that works in a portrait crop.

Different social media platforms require different aspect ratios (shapes) of images. With some images it is possible to crop images to a variety of shapes within the original frame and still convey all of the information. For example, in the below image you can see how each different crop, whilst changing the content of the image, is still impactful and effective at communicating the scene to the viewer.

However, in the next image it is clear that much of the crucial visual information is lost from the image in the red and green crops, making it significantly less effective.

Some key crop aspect ratios - 

• Instagram
  • Stories = 16x9 (above in red)
  • Posts = 4x5 (above in green)
• X / Twitter
  • ‘In feed’ = 9x6 (above in orange)

These shapes govern how users will see your images. As you are researching images, think about how these crops will be applied to your selection, particularly paying attention to the size of display too. Does it work in every shape that it is going to be used in? If not, is there an alternative that does?

You may also want to overlay text on an image, displaying further information to engage your audiences. This adds another layer of detail to think about when researching images for different crops and platforms. Look for images with negative space, or an area with less detail  to place your text. Make sure to keep in mind what you might be obscuring in your image by adding these details. Does the image still convey all the information you need it to? And does it do this effectively at all the different sizes it will be viewed at?

In the below example that uses two crops from the image above, the difference in clarity between the text in the image on the left vs. the image on the right is clear, and this difference will only ever become more stark as screen size is reduced.

It is also important to have in mind more general accessibility considerations when using images and text on social media. Some useful resources on designing and publishing accessible social media content -

• Accessible Social Media Guide - Scope
• A-Z guide for social media accessibility - Life Of A Blind Girl
• Building in accessibility from the beginning - CharityComms

Captions and crediting

We like to talk about pictures speaking a thousand words and telling stories, but a few more words in the form of a caption can be really important and add a huge amount of context and nuance to an image. Also, as AI image generation tools develop, comprehensive and accurate captioning is evermore vital in helping viewers critically assess the images that they are looking at and allowing photographs to communicate detailed, engaging, real world stories to viewers.

If you can, adding more information for your viewers through a caption can really add to your images’ ability to tell a story. Rather than only describing what an image shows (this is what the Alt-Text feature is for) use a caption to add contextual details, more about the story, and important nuance.

When you are choosing images for social media you should consider how a caption would be displayed alongside it - can you guarantee that a caption will be included in the post or should you include a caption designed into the image itself? This will depend on the platform that you will be sharing the image on. If you think that your image needs a caption to explain it, but can’t guarantee that it will be displayed with one - is there another image you could use instead?

Most images will require you to credit the photographer or copyright holder alongside the image as part of the licence terms of use (more on this below). Crediting photographers also helps viewers to find out more about an image and opens up the possibility for them to engage further with an image and the story that it is telling. It is your responsibility to ensure that the image credit will travel with the photograph in your use - is it best displayed as text alongside the caption, or added as an overlay to the image to be displayed there?

Images licensing and rules

As with any image use, you must ensure that you have the right to use your chosen image. This can take the form of a variety of different licence types, from images registered as in the Public Domain to commercial Rights Managed licences.

You must ensure that you have permission to use any image that you post on social media. The fact that an image has already been published online by someone else does not mean that you can publish it yourself.

Some licences will require a fee to be paid, others might be free. All image licences will have requirements that you must fulfil for your image use to be compliant. As the user, you must ensure that your use meets the requirements of your licence to use, for example by crediting the image as required.

Images in the Climate Visuals library have a variety of licences. These include:

• Images with Creative Commons (CC) licences
  • Including those which Climate Visuals has licence to distribute and those where others have the licence
• Images with Rights Managed (RM) licences.

Information about each image’s licence type is displayed alongside the caption information in the image preview display, as well as via a watermark across the image preview.

There is more information on image licences and how to use them in our 'how to' page below.

Follow Climate Visuals on Instagram and X / Twitter.

I am sure you will by now have seen multiple excited headlines about AI image generation. You may also have used at least one of the now numerous publicly accessible AI image generation tools. But what does this new, and undoubtedly exciting, potential for imagery mean for the visualisation of climate change? Note: this piece contains images that, whilst generated by AI, may be distressing to some viewers.

Over the last two years, text-to-image AI models such as OpenAi’s DALL-E, Midjourney and Microsoft Bing’s Image Creator tools have exploded in popularity. The tools are capable of generating images from text prompts inputted by a user. These prompts can be anything from simple descriptors, to complex instructions on content and style. When the technology first emerged, the images generated were heavily stylized, often fairly obvious ‘AI images’. Most were interesting for their combination of technical excitement and humour. However, as the technology has developed, the quality of the imagery has dramatically improved. We are now at a point where AI generated images can convincingly pass as photographs, including photojournalistic images. In our ever-increasingly visual media environment this poses a new and developing dilemma for photography producers and consumers.  

Climate Visuals’ evidence base stresses the importance of authenticity in photographs of climate change. Our guidance highlights the need to show real people, to avoid using the same familiar visual metaphors and the risks of an over-reliance on staged imagery and protest photographs. Polar bears clinging to ice is a common example of a visual cliche in climate change photography. We know that whilst these familiar images can be effective in signalling to the viewer that a story is about climate change, this might not be a story that they want to read. They are hard to relate to and miss the opportunity for deeper understanding. Audiences also respond poorly to staged photo-opportunities, particularly those involving politicians, and the use of protest imagery can be very divisive. Instead of visual cliches, photographs should communicate new, relatable and detailed stories about real people. When tasked with generating “the best image of climate change", an early version of MidJourney AI’s image generator produced these four images:

The top left frame appears to be an interpretation of a photomontage, and is quite visibly a non-real image. However the other three, whilst having a number of visual elements that help to identify them as not photographs (for example the ice in the reflection of the bear in the bottom-right image), are clearly mimicking the classic visual stereotype of a sad polar bear on melting ice. The issue here is not just that the polar bear is not a real one. More, that the AI model has interpreted the prompt with a highly cliched output, a visual representation that we know from our research prompts cynicism and fatigue in audiences. Whilst the images are of interest by virtue of their generation (the medium) they are examples of known ineffective visual representations of climate change (the message). This, even aside from the fact that the bear is not real, should be a guiding reason to avoid using them.

Polar bear images are a familiar example of visual cliches and stereotyping in climate change photography. However users should be aware of the potential for AI generated images to perpetuate visual stereotypes in much more subtle, but significant ways. When asked to generate “an award winning documentary photograph of climate change” Midjourney’s AI delivered these four images:

Similarly when asked for “climate change photojournalism” these images were generated:

In both of these examples the images generated mimic a number of classic visual stereotypes - lone victims in the face of catastrophic climate change impacts, an overwhelming sense of disaster, destruction and death. The images are hopeless and devastating. If we consider the images as photographs, the people featured lack any agency in their fate, they are powerless, anonymous and presented only for the sympathy of the viewer. Significantly, often the images appear to depict non-white figures as victims. In contrast, responding to the prompt “photograph of a climate scientist at work” the images generated often feature white figures:

A major concern generally with AI generated images is that we don’t know what images they are trained on. We therefore don’t know what representations of climate change the models are drawing on to generate new images, or how this material is interpreted. Anecdotally it appears that AI generated images will often repeat common visual representations. Whilst the images may be new, the content regularly appears to be an imitation of visual cliches and has an overreliance on damaging, ethically troubling visual stereotypes. With photography we must move away from these stereotypes, such as those perpetuating victim narratives, and instead centre dignity and ethical storytelling and prioritise diversifying those behind, and in front of, the lens. With AI generated images now having the potential to be used in place of photographs, it is vital to consider them as critically as photography.

Central to the Climate Visuals guidance is the need to show real people and tell real stories in images of climate change, be it in relation to causes, impacts, or solutions. Before the emergence of generative AI images this would have been interpreted to mean avoiding staged photocalls, including those of politicians, and images that are clearly staged for the purposes of a photograph. There has always been some nuance to this; not all ‘stock’ photography as illustration is bad by default, but with the development of AI image generation this takes on a new significance. There is no depth to the story of an AI image, no detailed story or narrative for a viewer to engage with and hopefully relate to. Photography has the potential to communicate detailed, complex narratives, particularly in photojournalism. Images generated by AI are immediately reduced to purely illustrative, surface level, content. We know from our evidence base that images of real people are favoured by audiences. We also know viewers shouldn’t be underestimated in their ability to see through inauthentic, staged images. We need to prioritise telling real, diverse, stories that are relatable to wide ranging audiences - AI generated images ignore the potential of this photographic storytelling and instead settle for surface level illustrations not grounded in real experience. As AI generated images become increasingly realistic, the need for transparency and honesty in their use is paramount. We have already seen the damaging potential of political AI generated images, as well as the debate around these images posted, and then deleted, by Amnesty International. If AI-generated images are used in the context of real events and presented as photographs, reality or without obvious labelling, then their use moves into the territory of being actively misleading to audiences. The images contain no reality, and should be considered more akin to artist representations, of which the creator has minimal input control, than photography.

Away from the ethical and moral issues of using AI generated images, there is also the potential for legal issues. As a developing technology the legal framework surrounding generative AI imagery is incomplete. The copyright status of images generated by a variety of AI tools are subject to multiple court cases globally. Similarly, there is a significant debate around the legality and fair-compensation of those whose work has been used to train the AI models. The images and data used to train the models are almost entirely unknown, and any compensation to those whose creative works have been used in this way is mostly non-existent. Academics have also found that it is easily possible to generate plagiaristic outputs with AI tools. In one major case, Getty Images, one of the largest imagery providers in the world, is currently pursuing legal action against Stability AI (whilst also introducing an AI generation tool itself). The temptation to use AI to generate ‘free’, increasingly high quality images, is clear, but the reality and ethics of this is far from it. As the legal arguments develop, and as more commercial AI image generation tools become available these grey areas will develop clarity, but currently this is an area of significant uncertainty.

Photography can tell compelling, detailed stories, and presents a vital opportunity for real and lasting public engagement. The development of generative AI imagery is undoubtedly a huge moment in how society produces and consumes images. However, the potential issues and pitfalls of using AI images in place of photography must be taken seriously. In visualising climate change through photography we should be seeking to tell real, compelling, relatable stories to our audiences. This is not possible through AI generated images, which construct scenes from unknown input datasets and are more closely related to digital art than photography. As AI generated images become more able to mimic photographs, thorough, ethical, photojournalism, comprehensive captioning and detailed and transparent crediting of images becomes ever more urgent and essential.

Climate Visuals manager Alastair Johnstone spoke to TedX London’s Climate Curious podcast about our new collection of air pollution photographs.

The conversation covers the reasoning behind the project, some of the stories behind the photographs and why compelling visual stories of air pollution, and climate change, are vital.

Since our launch in 2016, Climate Visuals has been a trusted resource of guidance, evidence and images for users around the world, and we are excited to celebrate the milestone of 10,000 registrations.

The library now contains over 1500 images, including over 1000 that are available with Creative Commons licences, helping to make compelling, exemplary climate change photography widely available. Images from the library have been used globally and by a wide range of individuals and organisations, from local community publications to international media houses and NGOs.

As our user base has grown, so too have our guidance and evidence resources, building on the original 7 Climate Visuals principles with work on representing indigenous people in images, promoting diversity in outdoor photography, and the effective photography of the links between ocean and climate. This evidence base underpins the images in the library as we advocate for a human centred, impactful and constructive visual language for climate change.

Five highlights from our work so far:

Two global open calls for photography

At the heart of the library, and forming a key resource for our users are the images in the Visualizing Climate Change and Ocean Visuals collections. These 193 images, selected from thousands of submissions from around the world, have had significant impact as a resource of compelling, impactful, photography, freely available to users in the non-profit, educational and editorial sectors.

The Guardian rethinks the images they use for their climate journalism

In 2019 Climate Visuals collaborated with The Guardian to help them better understand how to visually communicate the impact the climate emergency is having across the world.

The newspaper, as part of its 2019 climate pledge, published an editorial titled ‘Why we’re rethinking the images we use for our climate journalism’ and produced new internal, public and media facing photographic guidelines after consultation with the Climate Visuals team utilising our unique research, expertise and evidence base.

Climate Visuals’ images displayed at multiple COPs

Images from the Climate Visuals library were displayed prominently at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, and COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. These displays were an exciting opportunity to promote the collection as a usable resource, particularly in the non-profit and educational sectors, and QR codes displayed with the images helped viewers to navigate through to the library from the images and find out more.

New commissioned photography

We have recently launched a new collection of over 200 images of air pollution, produced in collaboration with Clean Air Fund. The images were commissioned in response to the scarcity of accurate, compelling and accessible photojournalism highlighting the impacts of air pollution alongside solutions. The photos were taken in Indonesia, Poland, South Africa and the UK, and are freely available for use in the non-profit, education and editorial sectors. The images embody the Climate Visuals evidence base and best practice guidelines, and form a new practical resource for users of the library.

Climate Visuals images, guidance and evidence published globally

Climate Visuals images have been published in a wide variety of contexts globally, including uses by The Guardian, The Times, BBC, the UN, Unesco, World Economic Forum, ABC News Australia and many others.

Looking ahead to the next 10,000 users…

We will continue to develop Climate Visuals as a resource, adding new images and developing the guidance and evidence base that underpins them. In an ever increasingly visual world, and with new technologies such as AI beginning to break through, the need for detailed, ethical, compelling photojournalism that tells real climate stories through images has never been greater.

We are always interested to hear from users of the library about how we can better cater for their image needs - please do get in touch.

Clean Air Fund and Climate Visuals have launched a new collection of air pollution photographs, free for non-profit, educational and editorial use.

The new collection of over 200 photographs of air pollution and communities affected by dirty air is now available to browse and download on the Climate Visuals library. The photographs, taken in Indonesia, Poland, South Africa and the UK are freely available for use in the non-profit, editorial and educational sectors and were commissioned in response to the scarcity of accurate, compelling and accessible photojournalism highlighting the impacts of air pollution alongside solutions to the problem.

Air pollution is the largest environmental threat to public health globally, and it’s getting worse. Most of the world’s population live in places that exceed the World Health Organization’s air quality guideline limits.

Climate Visuals worked with four photographers, Aji Styawan in Indonesia, Anna Liminowicz in Poland, Gulshan Khan in South Africa and Mary Turner in the UK as well as individuals and community organisations in each location to develop stories and produce compelling, detailed photojournalism. The photographs embody the Climate Visuals evidence base and best practice, and form a substantial new resource within the library.

Over 8 million people die prematurely each year because of air pollution. It’s the second leading cause of deaths from non-communicable diseases after smoking. Invisible particles penetrate cells and organs in our bodies – our lungs, heart, blood and brain. This leads to millions suffering with diseases like asthma, strokes, heart attacks, cancer and dementia. Babies, children, older people and those with existing health conditions are most severely affected by polluted air.

The impact of air pollution is also unequal. The most disadvantaged communities tend to bear the brunt of polluted air. They are the most likely to live in polluted neighbourhoods and work outside or in settings more exposed to dirty air. This means society’s most marginalised experience the triple burden of poverty, poor quality environment and ill health.

90% of premature deaths attributed to air pollution are in low- and middle-income countries. From Bangladesh to Indonesia, people on the lowest incomes are hit the hardest. So the people least responsible for dirty emissions are the most exposed, and tend to have less power in political decision-making.

Improving air quality is essential for addressing racial, gender and income inequalities. It is vital that the voices of people most affected by air pollution are included in campaigns and policy debates on air quality and climate change.

The causes of climate change are often the same as the causes of air pollution: transport, the power sector, industrial emissions and crop burning. Over 140 governments signed a declaration at the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) to address the interrelated issues of climate change and health together. As air pollution and climate change are mainly caused by burning fossil fuels, these two challenges share many of the same solutions. Clean air measures are one of the most immediate ways to protect the planet and people.

Clean air has the transformative potential to improve systemic health and climate issues. But political and public awareness and support for improving air quality does not match the scale of this global crisis. Through a new collection of compelling photography, Clean Air Fund and Climate Outreach seek to accurately and persuasively portray air pollution and the communities affected by dirty air.

About Climate Visuals

Climate Visuals is the world’s only evidence-based programme for climate change photography. It is run by Climate Outreach, a team of social scientists and communication specialists who work to ensure people trust, support and have a say in the changes we must make to address climate change. Through research, practical guides and consultancy services, Climate Outreach helps organisations communicate about climate change in ways that resonate with the values of their audiences and leads to action.

Register for and browse the Climate Visuals library here.

For more information contact: visuals@climateoutreach.org

About Clean Air Fund

Clean Air Fund is a global philanthropic organisation that works with governments, funders, businesses and campaigners to create a future where everyone breathes clean air.

For more information contact: media@cleanairfund.org

Photographs from the Visualizing Climate Change open call, along with the seven Climate Visuals principles, feature in a new microsite on Google Arts and Culture that is launched today.

This site forms a new, immersive and shareable resource for communicating the images in the collection and the evidence base behind them. All too often, climate change imagery is ineffective at driving change – it may be aesthetically pleasing and illustrative but not emotionally impactful. The Climate Visuals evidence base proves that imagery needs to embody people-centred narratives, local impacts and positive solutions, and must resonate with the identity and values of the viewer.

Viewers can see the 100 images in the Visualizing Climate Change collection, scroll through the seven principles, and follow direct links to the Climate Visuals library where registered users can download images in the collection free for use by non-profits, educators and the editorial media.

About Google Arts & Culture 

Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 3,000 cultural institutions from over 80 countries at people’s fingertips. GoogleArts & Culture's mission is to make the world's culture accessible to anyone, anywhere. It’s a doorway to explore art, history, and wonders of the world, and discover stories about cultural heritage ranging from Van Gogh’s bedroom paintings, Puerto Rico’s heritage, sports in Australia or the women's right movement to ancient Maya temples, Japanese food and Indian railways.

Climate Visuals contact

For further information please contact visuals[at]climateoutreach.org

The Climate Visuals library has a new curated collection of images available to use with a wide range of Creative Commons licences. This collection contains over 300 images of climate change causes, impacts and solutions from around the world, bringing the total number of Creative Commons images in the library to over 800.

The new collection is the result of a project to analyse and expand the Creative Commons images within the Climate Visuals library, with specific focus on images available for use on Wikipedia, where images are only accepted if the image licence allows commercial re-use and modification.

Following analysis of existing images in the library, the Climate Visuals team carried out targeted picture research to add images to the library that cater to known content gaps on Wikipedia, as well as those identified by Climate Visuals’ work in other contexts and user feedback. Some of these content gaps included; renewable energy solutions and the associated industry, images visualising the relationship between agriculture and the climate, and heatwaves and the management of heat and other weather events in urban areas.

As well as being accessible via the Climate Visuals library, the images are hosted on Wikimedia for use in Wikipedia articles, forming a collection of high quality, effective, and compelling climate imagery available for widespread use. So far, images from the collection used in articles across the topics of exercise, organic farming, and on Cyclone Idai.

Registered users navigating the collection in the Climate Visuals library will see an ‘obtain the image’ button in the bottom right corner of the image preview window. Clicking this link will take the user to the image source where it will be available to download for uses compatible with that image’s licence. Not registered yet? Register here - it’s free and takes only a few minutes.

Images from the Ocean Visuals collection are being exhibited at TED2023 - POSSIBILITY in Vancouver, Canada, April 17-21.

Daniella Zalcman, a member of the Ocean Visuals advisory board, will be in attendance and available to discuss the collection and the wider Climate Visuals project.

The Ocean Visuals collection of 93 images is accessible and free to use by the media, journalists, non-profit sector, campaigners and educators in articles and communications.

Ocean Visuals is a response to the urgent need for more impactful, diverse and equitably accessible ocean-climate imagery while ensuring ethical and fair payment to photographers. The project is a partnership between Climate Visuals and Communications Inc, funded by Erol, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) and Macdoch Foundation / NPT Transatlantic.

Ocean Visuals is a thematic extension of the Visualizing Climate Change open call, an equitable participatory concept originally conceived by Climate Visuals and TED Countdown ahead of COP26.

Contact Climate Visuals for further information.

Ocean Visuals has arrived at the Sydney Opera House, with a free exhibition along the Western Broadwalk from 29 March to 7 April.

Visitors are invited on a visual journey into the critical - but often poorly understood - connections between climate change and oceans.

The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the climate and in doing so protects us from the worst impacts of climate change. Despite this, the links between the climate and the ocean are not commonly understood, talked about or integrated into the way we tackle the climate crisis. Ocean Visuals aims to better incorporate the ocean and be inclusive of the diverse experiences of coastal communities including estuaries, rivers, inland waterways, urban, rural and remote environments, into global communications about climate.

The exhibition showcases 32 images from the Ocean Visuals collection, which was generated through a global call in partnership with Communications Inc. The full collection of 93 images, available through the Climate Visuals library, provides visual stories of climate change causes, impacts, solutions, resilience and justice.

This Climate Visuals exhibit is a collaboration between the Macdoch Foundation and Climate Outreach, with the support of the Sydney Opera House who is hosting the exhibit.

The photographers whose work is included in the exhibition:

• Moniruzzaman Sazal - Image ID 3849
• Michael Snyder - Image ID 4015, 4016
• Nuno Rodrigues - Image ID 4047, 4050
• Jashim Salam - Image ID 4072
• Vlad Sokhin - Image ID 4116
• Adam Sébire - Image ID 4134
• Lars Engelgaar - Image ID 4183
• Raunaq Singh Chopra - Image ID 4203
• Nicole Holman - Image ID 4267
• Beau Pilgrim - Image ID 4278
• Lachlan Gardiner - Image ID 4299
• Alain Schroeder - Image ID 4316
• David Menzel - Image ID 4345
• Tom Vierus - Image ID 4369, 4371
• Joan Sullivan - Image ID 4380
• Jerry Chidi - Image ID 4396
• Maurizio Di Pietro - Image ID 4416
• Adam Sébire - Image ID 4444
• Milos Bicanski - Image ID 4450
• Michael Hall - Image ID 4467
• Amitava Chandra - Image ID 4472
• Rodney Dekker - Image ID 4478, 4479, 4484
• Nelly Georgina Quijano Duarte - Image ID 4495
• David Alfaro - Image ID 4507
• Adam Hill - Image ID 4512
• Giuseppe Suaria - Image ID 4519

The Ocean Visuals collection is freely available to the media, non-profits, campaigners and educators to download and use in their communications.

Climate Visuals and The Sunrise Project, funded by the European Climate Foundation (ECF), are working on a storytelling project in three countries across Europe; Poland, Germany and the UK, to document and amplify the impacts of the cost of living crisis, with a specific focus on the solution of a just transition to clean and affordable energy. It is the aim that the project will include both impacts and solutions to the above issues.

The Sunrise Project’s mission is to scale social movements to drive the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy as fast as possible. Climate Visuals are creating a new visual language for climate change. Our approach, based on evidence and experience, is that imagery needs to embody people-centred narratives and positive solutions and resonate with the identity and values of the viewer – not just environmentalists.

Putin's ongoing invasion in Ukraine highlights the urgency to transition the energy system to address both the climate and cost of living crises. We're collaborating on this project to support more people-centred storytelling showing the impacts of the energy and cost of living crises alongside the organising and solutions that are being promoted by communities and civil society to drive the transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Through this storytelling work we hope to create content and resources for organisers and campaigners to use to bring people together, build community power and pressure those with financial and political responsibility to support a just transition to renewable energy.

The objectives of this project are:

• To uplift the voices of the unheard communities most affected by rising energy prices, from families to small business owners, then call for a bold energy vision and a swift transition towards climate solutions and renewables
• To build awareness, relationships, insights and trust with communities and people at the intersection of the energy cost and climate crisis

The resulting image collection will be shared through press and social media placement, as well as designed into campaign material. It will also be hosted on the Climate Visuals library, making the images available to registered users in the non-profit, educational and media sectors.

Climate Visuals is featured on World Press Photo’s Instagram feed today and tomorrow (19 and 20 December).

We will be sharing photographs from Ocean Visuals and Visualizing Climate Change, as well as elements of our guidelines on ethics and values, photography briefs and evidence base with World Press Photo’s 1.6m Instagram followers.

View the posts here and share to amplify the resources.

The Times featured the Ocean Visuals collection in a gallery - "What oceans tell us about a changing world — in pictures"

Register now at Climate Visuals for immediate access, and browse, download and amplify the Ocean Visuals story.

The Ocean Visuals collection was exhibited at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The collection could be found within the COP27 Blue Zone in the digital exhibition programmes of the Nature Zone pavilion.

Noora Firaq, Interim Executive Director & Operations Director of Climate Outreach, spoke on the panel and sharing insights on the Ocean Visuals project at the Communicating Ocean Science for Climate Action event in the UNESCO pavilion at 15:45-16:45 Egypt time (13:45-14:45 GMT) on Wednesday 9 of November and also at Communicating Science for Policy: the challenge and opportunity in the Nature Positive News Room, Blue Zone. 11.15-11.30 Egypt time (9:15-9:30 GMT), Friday 11 November.

Noora was also available to discuss the Ocean Visuals project, Climate Visuals and Climate Outreach, on a drop-in basis between 11:45 and 13:45 Egypt time (9:45-11:45 GMT) on Friday 11 November in the Nature Zone pavilion.

Please get in touch with any queries.

More information here on Climate Outreach at COP27.

Amplify the Ocean Visuals story and share the collection with your network.

• • 93 evidence based photographs selected by an independent jury
  • Freely available to the media, non-profits, campaigners and educators
  • Increasing the diversity and impact of climate and visual communications 

The Ocean Visuals collection is a unique, freely available, evidence-based collection of impactful and diverse imagery of ocean, coastal and climate stories.

Amplify the project, and support ocean-climate communication at a global scale during COP27 and beyond.

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The Guardian published a selection of photographs from the Ocean Visuals collection in a gallery entitled “The profound link between the climate crisis and the ocean - in pictures”.

Register now at Climate Visuals for immediate access, and browse, download and amplify the Ocean Visuals story.

A new evidence-based collection of impactful and diverse imagery of ocean, coastal and climate stories has been released by Climate Visuals ahead of COP27. The Ocean Visuals collection is accessible and free to use by the media, journalists, non-profit sector, campaigners and educators in articles and communications. 

“This collection will support communications impact whilst diversifying climate and ocean imagery on a global scale”, explains Climate Visuals Programme Lead, Toby Smith.

“Thousands of photographers spanning 102 countries participated in an open call in September. Our independent jury have made their combined decisions and with the advisory board prioritised values and ethics to only select images that reflect best practice”.

Ocean Visuals is a response to the urgent need for more impactful, diverse and equitably accessible ocean-climate imagery while ensuring ethical and fair payment to photographers. The project is a partnership between Climate Visuals and Communications Inc, funded by Erol, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch) and Macdoch Foundation / NPT Transatlantic.

"It was a pleasure to watch this collection come together from every corner of the globe, and explore the vast range of narratives, geographies and storytellers represented. We all hope for these images to be used to represent the mounting threats to our planet with depth and nuance", says Ocean Visuals advisory board member, Daniella Zalcman.

Ocean Visuals is built on strict guidelines for ethics, values and image manipulation. Combined with eight ocean-climate photographic principles, derived from a review of evidence and research into ocean imagery, it will raise the bar on visual communication at COP27 in the ’Ocean Super Year’ and into the UN Decade of Ocean Science.

Use of the collection will increase the breadth and impact of media and campaign coverage at COP27 - particularly given the predicted focus on oceans, finance, loss and damage - while also ensuring that all communicators can access quality, verified imagery equitably.

The eight principles of effective ocean-climate photography are:

1. Show people in ocean and coastal regions with authenticity
2. Visualise the diversity of people-and-ocean connections
3. Tell new stories
4. Find ocean and climate causes, impacts and solutions at scale
5. Pair emotionally powerful impacts with positive actions
6. Develop ideas to invite curiosity and foster engagement
7. Prioritise ethics, safety, wellbeing and prevention of harm
8. Be aware of problem narratives

About the research

The ocean plays a vital role in regulating the climate and in doing so protects us from the worst impacts of climate change. Despite this, the link between the climate and the ocean is not commonly understood, talked about or integrated into the way we tackle the climate crisis.

Ocean Visuals hopes to better incorporate the ocean and be inclusive of the diverse experiences of coastal communities, including estuaries, rivers, inland waterways, urban, rural and remote environments, into global communications about climate. Climate Visuals and Communications Inc have developed the guidance and briefing note for the Ocean Visuals Open Call based on industry best practice, published research and evidence on people’s responses to imagery. The aim of the research report is to guide civil society, campaigners, media, educators and scientists on the use of visuals to communicate ocean-climate issues more effectively.

About the Ocean Visuals open call 

A global, equitable and open call for photography took place from 1-14 September, 2022. The call highlighted and heard new narratives and voices direct from communities around the world. The objective was to source and licence 100 powerful images taken by both professional and amateur photographers. This open call distributed a total licensing fund of US $100,000 - with all final images selected by a diverse and independent jury, before professional verification and advisory board review including the removal of images that contradict beyond best-practice regarding representation.

Ocean Visuals  builds on a previous initiative delivered by Climate Visuals and TED Countdown, whose participation phase reached 5.2M users on social media and generated 5,500 gender-balanced submissions from over 140 countries worldwide in 2021. The collection released during the impact phase is regularly accessed by a growing user group of over 5,600 communicators and editors resulting in thousands of editorial, campaign and social media usages of the imagery.

About Climate Visuals 

Climate Visuals is the world’s only evidence-based programme for climate change photography. It is run by Climate Outreach, a team of social scientists and communication specialists working to widen and deepen public engagement with climate change. Through research, practical guides and consultancy services, Climate Outreach helps organisations communicate about climate change in ways that resonate with the values of their audiences and leads to action.

The visual narratives in circulation must move from illustrating climate causes and impacts to climate justice, solutions and positive change. Ocean Visuals’ online submission and licensing process will consider a broad range of diversity, equity and inclusion factors to ensure that the opportunity is global, accessible, fair, representative, illustrative and impactful. The goal is to provide a platform, amplify voices and serve visual tools to people and communities not yet represented.

About Communications Inc

Communications Inc is a small communications agency with big ideas, which works with non-profits around the globe. We put our specialist experience and wide-ranging network of contacts to work for our clients, addressing social and environmental issues across the globe, yet we remain approachable, adaptable and passionate.

To grab attention, set agendas and change behaviour you need a creative and thoughtful communications strategy, one that is based on a thorough and realistic analysis of your situation and environment. You also need an agency that understands the particular challenges and opportunities of non-for-profits and international communications.

Germany Talks Climate Visuals

For the German language version of this summary click here

Climate change is not just something we know, it is also something we feel and see. This latest iteration of climate visuals research investigates how climate change and climate action are seen in Germany and which images resonate with people with different views in society.

The research formed part of the larger Übers Klima reden (in English: Germany Talks Climate) study conducted in February and March 2022 examining attitudes towards climate change and climate action in Germany. Übers Klima reden is a joint project by Climate Outreach, More in Common Germany and klimafakten.de, funded by Stiftung Mercator and the European Climate Foundation.

These results on imagery form the first image research update in Germany since the original Climate Visuals study in 2016. The underlying research was developed in collaboration with More in Common and uses their values-based segmentation approach for the first time in visual research with German society.

Based on the Seven Climate Visuals principles, 17 images were selected and tested with six focus groups in Germany as well as through a representative survey with a sample of the German population. Due to the research design, these findings are mostly based on limited qualitative data. While these insights have been analysed to the best of our knowledge, the study also makes it clear that further quantitative image research is necessary to substantiate the following findings:

• • Images of flooding in Germany are powerful and connect across society.

• • Imagery can be used to tell new stories about heatwaves.

• • Images of families and children can help people relate to climate change impacts.

• • Climate solutions imagery can effectively depict success stories but needs to be contextualised.

• • Images of activists generate mixed and often negative reactions.

• • Images depicting a range of renewables to represent Germany’s energy future are more likely to appeal across society.

• • Images portraying visions of the future have potential, but by definition appear distant.

• • Polar bears are iconic, but not sufficiently compelling.

Top three images

What makes these images stand out?

• a direct connection to climate change
• emotional impact
• relatable aspects (local environment; family with children)
• illustration of an undesirable future (e.g. in the form of air pollution)

Overall, we found many of the seven Climate Visuals principles reflected in people’s responses to the images tested: the importance of localising the issue, showing climate impacts at scale and real people with real emotions responding to the way climate change is affecting their lives, as well as somewhat ambivalent responses to protest imagery. Other areas with significant potential for engaging wider audiences also emerged, such as images depicting visions of the future, both positive and negative. Clearly, more research is needed into how images might affect people’s awareness of climate risks and impacts as well as solutions, and how visual modes of communication influence people’s sense of self-efficacy (or personal agency) in the face of the climate crisis.

The full range of insights, as well as an overview of all the images that were tested, are available in German here.

Mit Bildern „Übers Klima reden”

For the English language version of this summary click here

Animierende Klimakommunikation benötigt nicht nur eine wertebasierte Sprache, sondern fordert ebenso die effektive Nutzung von Bildern. Da die visuelle Auseinandersetzung mit dem Klimawandel und Klimaschutz in Deutschland bisher nur wenig erforscht ist, haben wir im Rahmen unserer größeren „Übers Klima reden”-Studie versucht, diese Lücke in der evidenzbasierten visuellen Kommunikation zu schließen.

Die hier vorgestellten Ergebnisse zur Bildsprache bilden die erste Aktualisierung der Bildforschung in Deutschland seit der ursprünglichen Climate Visuals-Studie von 2016. Unsere neue Forschung wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit More in Common entwickelt und verwendet ihren wertebasierten Segmentierungsansatz, um die Ergebnisse nach verschiedenen Bevölkerungssegmenten aufschlüsseln zu können. Eine nützliche Ressource zur Bildsprache bietet auch das Handbuch von unserem Projektpartner klimafakten.de: „Übers Klima sprechen" (s. Kapitel 12: Nutze Bilder - aber wähle sie mit Bedacht aus).

Auf der Grundlage der sieben Climate Visuals-Prinzipien wurden 17 Bilder ausgewählt und in sechs Fokusgruppen in Deutschland sowie durch eine repräsentative Umfrage bei einer Stichprobe der deutschen Bevölkerung getestet. Aufgrund des Forschungsdesigns beruhen diese Ergebnisse hauptsächlich auf begrenzten qualitativen Daten. Während diese Erkenntnisse nach bestem Wissen ausgewertet wurden, macht die Studie gleichzeitig deutlich, dass weitere quantitative Bildforschung notwendig ist, um die folgenden Ergebnisse zu untermauern:

• • Bilder von Überschwemmungen in Deutschland sind eindrucksvoll für alle Typen
  • Bilder können neue, anregende Narrative zu Hitzewellen erzählen
  • Bilder von Familien und Kindern können helfen, eine Verbindung zum Klimawandel herzustellen
  • Bilder von Klimalösungen können Erfolgsgeschichten effektiv vermitteln, doch benötigen Kontext
  • Bilder von Aktivist:innen erzeugen gemischte und oft eher negative Reaktionen
  • Bilder, die Deutschlands Energiezukunft als eine Vielfalt erneuerbarer Energien darstellen, sprechen die Breite der Gesellschaft besser an 
  • Bilder von Zukunftsvisionen haben Potenzial, erscheinen aber definitionsgemäß weit entfernt
  • Eisbären haben Symbolcharakter, reichen aber nicht aus

Top 3 Bilder für alle Typen

Folgende drei Bilder wurden im Schnitt aller Fokusgruppen als Top 3 identifiziert:

Wodurch zeichnen sich diese Bilder aus?

• • zeigen unverkennbar Ursachen oder Folgen des Klimawandels
  • emotionale Wirkung (erzeugen Gefühle wie Schock, Abscheu oder Mitleid)
  • ermöglichen einen Bezug zum eigenen Lebenskontext (lokale Umgebung, Familie mit Kindern)
  • Veranschaulichung einer unerwünschten Zukunft, z. B. in Form von massiver Luftverschmutzung

Insgesamt lässt sich feststellen, dass sich viele der sieben Climate Visuals-Prinzipien in den Reaktionen der Menschen auf die getesteten Bilder widerspiegeln: die Notwendigkeit der Lokalisierung des Klimathemas, die Darstellung der Auswirkungen des Klimawandels, die Abbildung echter Menschen mit echten Gefühlen, sowie etwas ambivalente Reaktionen auf Protestbilder. Außerdem ergaben sich neue Erkenntnisse zu Bildmaterial, das Potenzial hat, ein breiteres Publikum anzusprechen. Vor allem Bilder, die Zukunftsvisionen darstellen, sowohl positive als auch negative, können für verschiedene Menschen durchaus motivierend wirken. Gleichzeitig macht diese Studie deutlich, dass mehr repräsentative Forschung notwendig ist, um herauszufinden, wie Bilder das Bewusstsein der Menschen für Klimarisiken und -auswirkungen sowie für Lösungen beeinflussen können und wie visuelle Kommunikation das Gefühl der Selbstwirksamkeit (oder der persönlichen Handlungsfähigkeit) der Menschen angesichts der Klimakrise beeinflussen.

Die Erkenntnisse in gesamter Länge sowie eine Übersicht aller getesteten Bilder sind hier einsehbar.