More people, bigger impact: 5 tips to help others step up their climate game

For many of us, small climate actions like taking shorter showers, getting the train to work, and turning the tap off or the heating down have become part of everyday life. But we need to spread the word and scale up our action for greater impact – and the European Climate Pact is here to help.

Here are five simple tactics and some resources to help you inspire others to reduce their carbon footprint.

1. Read the room and work out what motivates your audience

Sparking interest in climate action will look a bit different, depending on who we’re talking to. When motivating others to take action, you are more likely to succeed if you relate climate change issues and solutions to their lives using examples that will resonate.

What does your audience care about most? It could be the potential to save money, the health benefits from better air quality or sustainable diets, or the local job opportunities.

By selling the benefits of climate action, you can set the stage to talk about the specific actions people can take.

2. If someone could make just one change, which would have the biggest impact?

If your friends and colleagues did everything in their power to combat climate change, that would be the dream, right? But you need to be realistic.

Once you have worked out which actions resonate with them and work with their lifestyle, emphasise the ones that have the biggest potential to reduce their carbon footprint – you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong.

Many people think recycling has a bigger impact than it does, and underestimate the impact of cutting down on using private cars, choosing a plant-based diet and renovating houses for energy efficiency. Find a list of climate action ideas in our resource library.

3. Shout about what you’re doing for the climate

An easy way to increase the impact of your climate action is to speak up about it and lead by example, whether that’s in conversation, through presentations at work, or on social media. Your experiences could give people the ideas and the push they need.

When posting your progress on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook, use the hashtags #EUClimatePact and #MyWorldOurPlanet to extend your reach and show that you are part of the Pact community.

4. Make your next event a climate activity

Give members of your community an opportunity to join in with climate action by organising a local activity. This could be a climate walk, photo workshop, peer parliament debate, or local climate action group – you don’t need to be an expert, you can find guides for setting up all of these activities on our website.

Activities like this provide an opportunity to bring people together and boost their knowledge on climate change, stressing the importance of taking action.

Once the activity has finished, remember to tell us how it went so that we can share your success stories on our website and social media channels, and inspire others to follow suit.

European Climate Pact Ambassador Frida Berry Eklund explains why group climate activities are a great way to motivate people to act.

5. Be prepared to give strong reasons to take action

Bringing up climate change in conversation can sometimes feel like opening a can of worms. Disinformation circulating online has led some people to think about climate change in a way that prevents them from taking action. You might hear things like ‘what we do will not have a real impact anyway’ or ‘it’s not my role to make changes, that’s up to the government’.

But reaching a sustainable future is up to all of us, not just authorities – it’s about what we do in our daily lives, what we do as a community, and as a society.

So, you need to be ready to clear things up with facts and convince someone to take climate action. Our guide on talking to people about climate change covers several common barriers that can come up in climate conversations, and tips to overcome them.

There’s still time to turn things around and prevent the most severe consequences of climate change, but we need a lot more climate action from a lot more people. Whether you’ve been taking action for years, or you’re new to a climate-friendly lifestyle, we need your help to inspire everyone to join the movement.

For more tips on adopting climate-friendly habits, read our article on making sustainable transport our new normal.