CLICOPRE - Climate Communication and Policy Responses to Extreme Weather Events

Project objectives: Over the past two decades, climate change has become an ever more pressing global issue, causing increasingly severe Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) e.g., floods, wildfires etc. For example, in 2021, extreme heat waves broke historical records across Western North America and the Mediterranean. Germany and Belgium experienced their most devastating floods in decades, and the Southwestern United States (US) recorded its most severe droughts. These events have been shown to shift media reporting and online discussions on environmental themes and significantly influence public attitudes and voting on climate-related issues. As EWEs become more frequent and severe, there is a pressing need to assess their impact on society and our ability to address their root causes effectively. The political polarization around climate change, coupled with the high costs of necessary reforms, contributes to uncertainty about the effects of EWEs. This uncertainty affects how the media and political figures discuss climate change. Since Social Media (SM) is a primary news source, particularly on climate and political topics, analysing how EWEs are reported on digital platforms is crucial. It is then fundamental to examine how EWEs influence legislative activities related to climate change and environmental policies: this can provide insights into our society's ability to leverage these events in the fight against climate change. Finally, uncovering how voters hold politicians accountable for their climate-related communication and actions, as seen through electoral outcomes, is essential for understanding the incentives that shape political decision-making. CLICOPRE takes an interdisciplinary approach by integrating cutting-edge methods from data science, economics, and political science to analyze SM activity datasets of unprecedented coverage. The aim is to study the features of a feedback loop that could significantly improve society’s ability to respond effectively to climate change.

Duration: 01/2026 - 01/2029

dSEA staff involved:

• Duccio Gamannossi Degl'Innocenti