Climate Change has a Communication Problem and what the IPCC can learn from Apple
Yesterday, Apple presented some long-anticipated updates to their MacBook Pro series. The event had been rumored to happen for weeks and was even supposed to happen in June. The known tech reporters had discussed these upcoming MacBooks’ detailed updates and specs for weeks in their news articles and YouTube channels.
However, this did not stop every die-hard fan and many tech journalists from waiting excitedly for the big reveal. Apple itself teased the event and invited everyone with a classic one-page invitation one week ahead.
So what is so special about these events? Let us take a quick look at the presentation ceremony of Apple first and then see what it has to do with climate change. Such an event is not new to Apple. Actually, it happens very regularly. Apple usually presents its latest products and software updates in a big reveal on stage on a somewhat known schedule. The two most prominent events are the keynote at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) and a special event in the fall, sometimes referred to as the iPhone special event. At WWDC, in certain circles just called “dub-dub”, we get a sneak peek into the new iOS release and the upcoming features of the software. At fall events, Apple reveals the new iPhones, just like we saw a couple of weeks ago with the iPhone 13. These big reveals happen regularly. They are always announced similarly, and there is usually some kind of hype around them. The events themselves are iconic. The show master Steve Jobs famously revealed the first iPhone at such an event by announcing three new devices “…an iPod, a phone, an internet communicator” and then surprised the audience by introducing one device with all those capabilities. When revealing the first MacBook Air, he pulled the device from a paper envelope to show its thinness. And with the infamous phrase “one more thing” he was known to introduce entirely new products at the end of a presentation. Today, Apple might be missing Steve Jobs, but it has the Steve Jobs Theater in his remembrance. This is where Apple usually holds its keynotes, invites hundreds of journalists, and tightly controls the presentation. Because of Covid-19, in 2020 and 2021, these events have not been the same, and they feel more like prerecorded 1–2h infomercials. However, this has given Apple even more of a chance to control the event. The entire show feels like a short movie filmed by a famous Hollywood director. Including camera overflies, CGI effects, and even its exclusively composed music (yes, really!). Gone are the days when Steve Jobs revealed a new product category — the iPad — but needed to ask the journalists to turn off the Wi-Fi on their devices, so the loading speed is not too slow. So, why am I telling you all of this when we really should talk about the communication problem of climate change? Well, let us take a look at how new facts about climate change are presented. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a body of the United Nations (UN) formed in 1988 to collect and assess all the science regarding climate change. In a very formal assessment cycle, the IPCC publishes its results in a series of special reports and an assessment report. Each cycle is strictly planned with fix dates and approval cycles (1). The IPCC is now on its sixth cycle, and they presented one of their reports to the world just a few weeks ago. The so-called Working Group 1 presented the physical science basis of climate change (2). In the scientific expert community, the results were more or less not surprising. This is because the IPCC “just” summarizes the findings of all the research that has been done on the topics over the last years. I know that this is an oversimplification of what they do, but it will do for now. The presentation and its content had a bombshell character, at least to me. Like last time (in 2014), the IPCC presented a series of scenarios of how climate change will impact the world. None of them are in any way appealing. Some of them are bleaker than others. They presented that it is “unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” A fact that has been already believed by so many for so long. For me, the most surprising fact is that “global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least the mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered.” In the best-case scenario, we will reach “more likely than not” the 1.5 C° increase of temperature above pre-industrial levels already between 2021–2040. That is earlier than we expected. In every scenario, we will exceed 1.6 C° after 2040. In three out of five scenarios, the estimates even exceed the 2 C° threshold. If we go back to the Paris Climate agreement, the 2 C° is the threshold the signed countries have committed to staying well below. And that is for a good reason. At 2 C°, the negative impact for all of us will be severe. Something that the WWF has summarized nicely in the graphic.
The IPCC presented that it is very likely that we will reach this grim target of 1,5 C° already in the next couple of years. It is so near that most people reading this will experience the harsher effects in their lifetime. So I guess, it will impact even more people in a more relatable way than the new iPhone. While this updated information is quite severe to the world, many people do not know about them. Mainstream media picked it up for a couple of days and then let it slide again. While there are many reasons why the information is not disseminating to everyone, one might be the way in which they are communicated. The presentation itself was not very appealing. Believe me, I tried to watch it . It was a series of scientists logged on to a web conference, having lousy audio and video quality and presenting the end of the world with terrible PowerPoint slides.
Every one of us has been in such a presentation before. You remember the one presentation you knew the content is good. The content is highly relevant. The presenter is knowledgeable about the topic. But still, it is tough to listen and stay with the presenter. Our lizard brains want to have the excitement. They want to be entertained. The content, no matter how relevant it is, must be presented smartly.
To be fair, IPCC has done a lot to improve on that. There is even a styleguide that defines how the scientists have to design the graphs and their results. But of course, in the end, it is nowhere as catching as an Apple presentation. Why is it not? I do not know. Well, I have some ideas. Scientists are not marketers. Nor should they be. They present the information as is and do not try to entertain anyone. Nor should they. And I assume the IPCC spends a lot less on marketing. At the end of the day, it is taxpayer’s money. Maybe it is the job of other outlets to take the information and present it in an easier and more consumable way. And perhaps we should have an intrinsic motivation to want to learn about the topic at hand, and it shouldn’t be over-glorified and entertaining. On the other hand, maybe it should be. Maybe Greta Thunberg needs a prolific marketing agency by her side. And Maybe the IPCC can take something from the Apple script for their next report presentation in 2022.
It is sad, but if that’s what it takes to get the facts to the same masses as the iPhone, I’m on board.
- You can learn more about the assessment report and the process here: https://www.ipcc.ch/about/
- IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press.
- WWF, 2021: https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/climate_and_energy_practice/ipcc152/
