Staying Visible: Ocean and Climate Communications in a Changing World
Communications INC
We harness the power of communications and campaigning to protect the planet.
What a difference a day makes.
Fresh from celebrating the significant strides taken during 2024 in how we communicate about, understand, and protect the ocean, the new year ushered in an era of uncertainty for global environmental campaigns and communications with the political transition in the United States (U.S.) on 20 January 2025.
Within days of taking office, the new U.S. administration reshaped its approach to multilateralism and redefined its character on the global stage. Among many seismic shifts, we have witnessed:
These, and the actions yet to come, are influencing environmental progress in the U.S. and beyond its territorial waters.?
At Communications INC, we have been exploring how the current situation may impact international ocean and climate communications. The potential risks, opportunities, and suggested recommendations are based on observations from our experience and that of the broader community in the OneOcean Flotilla. Given the complexity and ever-evolving nature of this issue, these are not definitive or comprehensive recommendations. Instead, they are meant to spark a broader conversation about potential strategic approaches and the need for further research and insights.
Risks
Information Gaps and Misinformation Threaten Ocean and Climate Action
There are signs that we may face diminishing channels of communication and increasing barriers to environmental information. This could lead to a reduction in public access to information and an increase in exposure to misinformation, resulting in a greater knowledge deficit. Given that a core theory of change of environmental campaigning is to engage sections of the public, so that they exert pressure on decision-makers, we should explore new ways of reaching those audiences.
Language weaponisation: The U.S. government is mandating the removal of certain terms from federally funded communications around DEI. This tactic frames DEI—and potentially environmental issues like climate change—as negative, shaping public perception and limiting constructive discourse.
Reduced reach: For the foreseeable future, international NGOs may feel it necessary to reduce their communications on ‘contentious’ issues within the U.S., for fear that they will attract negative attention. Meanwhile some U.S.-based groups are switching to a more local focus. Since many of the largest and most affluent NGOs are in the U.S. this could affect the reach of conservation communications more broadly.?
Erosion of evidence: Science underpins environmental communication and policy. The current U.S. administration’s erosion of scientific investment may sideline independent research, undermine trust in scientific work, and threaten future knowledge generation.
Reduction in environmental reporting
The freeze in U.S. overseas aid, in addition to impacting essential and life-giving services,? is already reducing independent media outlets globally, especially in the global south. This will likely impact funding for investigative journalism and environmental reporting capacity, raising concerns about a possible decline in media coverage of environmental issues.
To date, globally-relevant outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, continue to cover environmental issues. However, recent threats to ban Associated Press reporters unless they adopt a revised style guide, along with challenges to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio over perceived bias, indicate an increasing political pressure on journalism.
Barriers to digital communications
Disruptions to digital communications channels could make it harder for environmental communicators to reach and engage large numbers of people.
Platform fragmentation: The migration away from X is increasing the proliferation of social media platforms. While this provides potential opportunities to reach new and diverse audiences, it also leads to fragmentation and a siloing of interests. A highly strategic approach is required to tailor content for each platform, along with more time and effort to communicate and engage effectively across multiple channels.?
Disruption to digital infrastructure: The removal of information about climate change from some federally-owned websites is causing broken links across the NGO sector, which frequently cites such resources. A high volume of broken links can harm Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), reducing the visibility of environmental content. If not addressed, this will create barriers to information access for both the public and researchers seeking environmental data.
Impacts on Political Progress
Dealing with the rapid changes invoked by the new U.S. administration will inevitably take diplomatic time and political capital away from other issues.?
It is possible that the U.S. will become obstructive to environmental progress in some international forums. Its geopolitical influence, coupled with the current administration’s use of tariffs as political leverage, could make some nations unwilling to oppose its position in political negotiations.?
Funding Uncertainties
The emergency diversion of some funding sources to help stabilise the UN and other institutions and to support groups facing cuts in U.S. aid will reduce the resources available to other NGOs. There are also concerns that a less informed, and increasingly misinformed, public may stop donating to environmental groups.?
Opportunities
Despite the potential challenges, this period of uncertainty could create opportunities and push us to rethink, adapt, and become more innovative in our communications approaches.
Strategic communications
When properly resourced and effectively delivered, strategic communications can drive significant engagement and results. Building and embedding capacity to engage both current and new audiences will become increasingly critical. Now is the time to invest in data driven research programs that can help to establish a body of evidence on how to reach polarised audiences and move people from awareness to action.
Global Leadership
The changing political landscape may create space for new coalitions and partnerships that might not have formed under different circumstances. For example, some states may want to exert more environmental leadership on the global stage or unite to stand firm on their commitments. Meanwhile, citizen movements, such as youth climate activism, could gain strength as a response to political dissatisfaction, offering new partnership opportunities.?
Recommendations
The following recommendations are heavily caveated with the need to continually monitor changes, conduct robust research to ensure decisions are data-driven, and to remain nimble and cognisant of a rapidly changing environment.?
Create adaptation strategies
Flexible strategies and revised approaches that allow rapid adaptation are essential to maintain effective communication. Strategies could include the use of new platforms and channels that allow us to maintain broad engagement, supported by a greater emphasis on more direct forms of outreach, which do not rely on third party or mass-media platforms.
Keep Your Content Visible
It is important to fix broken website links, particularly those pointing to now-removed U.S. government resources, to prevent negative impacts on SEO and to maintain the visibility of environmental content. Additionally, reviewing the use of photos and assessing all digital assets for potential issues or improvements is important in the current environment. As digital infrastructure challenges grow in the environmental sector, ongoing website audits and maintenance will become increasingly beneficial in ensuring accessibility, credibility, and search visibility.
Audit language
It would be prudent to check for the use of language that is likely to trip negative algorithms, attract unhelpful attention, or trigger a negative response. Words such as ‘truth’ are not currently helpful, for example, and we need to consider the words we use to describe climate change.?
Consider narrative frames
Where judicious, develop new narratives and frames for campaigns to enable a dial-up of messages that resonate more effectively with conservative audiences and governments.? When is the celebration of nature or restoration to a ‘better’ past a stronger proposition than biodiversity protection for the future?
Unify
Create, support, and share channels that unify the ocean and climate community and provide a consistent and trusted source of information. Recognising that it may be hard for groups and individuals based in the U.S. to speak out on some subjects, international NGOs could proactively share access to independent voices and experts, or partner with U.S. groups to offer global spokespeople and scientists who can speak freely. Providing (or funding) platforms for independent journalism or scientific research to protect important sources of information would also be beneficial.
Amplify
Utilise influencers and diverse messengers to open new audiences or provide a different way to reach existing ones. Amplify marginalised and underrepresented voices through your platforms, including those of indigenous groups, scientists and independent journalists, particularly those based in the global south. Increase investment in non-English speaking audiences and cultivate decision makers and influencers in states that may take a supportive position.?
Engage
Rather than chasing algorithms or a large social media following, focus on platform-specific content and community-driven approaches. This means prioritising engagement and participation by creating spaces where audiences can be active participants rather than passive consumers.?Increase investment in tools that enable direct engagement with key audiences including webinars, email outreach, newsletters, and websites.?
Invest in insights
Conduct research and track the evolution of new narratives and how they perform with different audiences, identifying problematic frames as well as opportunities to reach new audiences differently. Invest in the increased workload required to monitor and respond to changes, and to support data capture and the sharing of insights and learnings.?
Keep communicating
We need to keep communicating while utilising more individually targeted approaches. This includes talking to the misinformed, not just the uninformed. Overturning false beliefs requires a more sophisticated approach than simply supplying accurate information or debunking falsehoods. Science-sceptical attitudes often exist in social or geographical clusters so it is worth considering whether local networks can help find familiar, trusted messengers for these groups.?
Join the conversation
It is more vital than ever to strive for a resilient future. By sharing our expertise, insights, and learnings during this evolving situation, we can strengthen our reach and relevance and continue to advance our goals through strategic and impactful communications. We encourage everyone involved in the ocean and climate space to watch our webinar and collaborate in this conversation by joining the OneOcean Flotilla.?