Feature

In pub parlance: how to counter global greenlash

Feature

In pub parlance: how to counter global greenlash

SEI’s two UK centres loosely channeled “British pub speak” for a frank discussion of ideas to counter growing backlash to green policy agendas. The freewheeling conversation tapped insights from the institute, and from some 80 invited representatives of business, government, civil society and academia in the UK, long an agenda-setter in global climate policy.

Karen Brandon / Published on 11 September 2025

In 2019, the UK became the first major world economy to commit to reducing its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. At that time, the legislation provoked such little disagreement that it was simply “nodded through without a vote”, the BBC notes.

Times have changed. Some local governments in the UK are revoking their net-zero pledges as being “unaffordable”. Litigation in corporate courts is seeking “to overturn climate decision-making in the UK”. According to a YouGov poll, public support in the UK for spending on climate change and the environment has fallen, eclipsed by other concerns. Similar issues are surfacing worldwide – for example, in the European Union, the US, Brazil, among others, with implications not only for climate change but also for democracy.

Policies that underpin efforts to limit global temperature rise were envisioned as springboards for other aspirational goods: to foster sustainable economic development, stem biodiversity loss, and reduce pollution.

Now comes a paradox. Rapid technological innovation and plummeting renewable energy costs provide tools to make a green transition. Each flood and fire of historic proportion underlines the growing financial and human toll of climate change. Yet, carbon emissions continue to rise, and forecasts predict global temperatures near to or reaching record highs. The International Energy Agency warns of slowing momentum, with finance and priorities moving in other directions. And new vocabulary arises in the global discussion, with the invention of a portmanteau that captures the times: greenlash.

What is driving the phenomenon? Why is this pushback surfacing now? What are viable ways to recover momentum – or, at a minimum, stop backsliding?

Generating ideas to spur change

These issues and questions motivated SEI’s decision to host an event, “Countering global greenlash: rethinking the UK opportunity landscape”, to examine what has led to greenlash, and to generate ideas about how to overcome the phenomenon in the UK and beyond.

Held 10 September in York and hosted by SEI’s two UK-based centres in York and Oxford, the event brought together key people from a wide variety of sectors in the UK and many leaders of SEI. Roughly 80 invited guests attended – including representatives of UK and local-level government, business, civil society and academia. From SEI, participants included Chair of the SEI Board Lennart Båge; SEI Board members Kristin Halvorsen, Per Mickwitz, and Magnus Billing; SEI Executive Director Måns Nilsson; SEI Research Director Somya Joshi; SEI York Director Sarah West; SEI Oxford Director Andrew Fitzgibbon, and many others working on related issues in the institute’s UK centres.

The challenge before us is clear: if climate action is to succeed, its benefits must be more clearly communicated, and in local terms. Otherwise, opportunities risk being interpreted as burdens.

Lennart Båge, Chair of the SEI Board, in opening remarks

Building on the UK’s legacy and culture

The UK serves as a natural focal point: it has helped shape how the world reduces emissions, pioneering a national carbon market, passing a landmark Climate Change Act, and announcing plans for an ambitious, 81% cut in emissions by 2035. Some of its regions – including North Yorkshire, the site of the forum – have launched their own leading initiatives, such as the “Carbon Negative” route map. The UK has also been a key player in global sustainable development efforts through diplomacy, finance and agenda setting. The event posed questions about how efforts in the UK can build on this pioneering legacy in the face of fiscal constraints, a divisive political atmosphere over net-zero goals, and a public seemingly prioritizing other concerns.

The York event sought to encourage a frank discussion. It used the Chatham House Rule, meaning that the contents of the discussion could be publicized, but that these would not be linked to individual participants. It also experimented with an unconventional format: asking participants to engage as if they were chatting in that quintessential British forum, the public house. The aim was to leverage the unwritten rules of pub talk, which values plain speaking, puts all speakers on a level footing, and savours debate – attributes that burnish the reputation of pubs as the place where the real business of the day often takes place.

Telling a positive story

The dominant theme of the wide-ranging discussion was communication. Participants advocated using relentlessly positive storytelling, discussing the green transition in terms that convey concrete benefits to individual lives and communities, and tirelessly correcting misinformation and disinformation that thrive in social media forums and social bubbles. Myriad ideas surfaced. Among them:

Articulate issues in ways that mean something to people in terms of their daily lives. Emphasize clean water, rather than emissions inventories. Talk about improved transport, say, instead of melting glaciers.
Talk more about improving environments – which can bring in more advocates – in place of “net zero” and “low carbon”.
Recruit climate champions to take the green agenda into other avenues of everyday life – through sport clubs, church communities, and schools.
Engage! Have individual conversations in daily life to expand. Discuss the drought and rain with the grocery store clerk.
Correct the record. Disinformation and misinformation proliferate. Help find ways to “vaccinate” people against these campaigns in online bubbles. Tap the skills and ideas of young people about how to engage effectively in key online platforms.
Recognize that fear of change runs on emotion. Facts will be essential but not enough. Those advocating for a green transition will have to cultivate trust and relationships for facts to be persuasive alone will not be enough.
People don’t just want facts. They want vibes. Think about how to compete on vibes.
Cultivate cool. People want to be onto the next hip trend. Cultivate this for green technological innovations.

“We need some sort of new narrative. We need to become more tangible for people’s day-to-day lives. We need to make that connection.”

Magnus Billing, SEI Board Member, in closing remarks

Reframing policies to emphasize benefits

Similar themes arose in discussing policies. Participants urged efforts to reframe policies by deliberately using language to expand support, emphasize practical benefits, and undercut arguments against green policies.

Among the ideas:

Talk about policies cultivating “good living” rather than limiting global temperature rise.
Tie social justice with environmental policy. Expand public support by leaning into actions that will lift up people who have suffered in old economic transitions. The low-carbon economy should not replicate the high-carbon economy’s unfairness.
Counteract the narrative that a green transition cannot support growth with success stories about thriving businesses, job creation, and overall data that demonstrate the potential for vitality to flow from the green economy.
Prioritize local initiative so that the first actions have demonstrable, positive impacts on residents and local economies – for example by reducing electric bills and creating jobs.
Emphasize inclusive policy design. This matters to people as much as communication. Policies must be intentionally designed in ways that make people’s lives better – all lives, including those who are disabled.

Working with the private sector

Participants said that their experiences show that the private sector wants to help lead change.

Local businesses may offer a good starting point. Many people running small and medium enterprises are concerned about how their communities are faring, and they want to make positive changes.
Be aware that a lot of “green-hushing” is taking place; that is, companies with really strong and innovative policies are not talking about this because of the political environment.
Business-to-business exchanges can help private-sector leaders learn from one another and can spur changes through networking events.

Going forward

Recognize the fear factor. Even those who want to make positive environmental change are afraid about the magnitude and speed of the change needed.
At a time of proliferating disinformation from powerful interests that want to stave off change, trust is invaluable. Building new relationships and expanding networks can lead more people to trust science, scientists and the value of making needed changes.
Don’t wait for perfection. Get cracking.

Every movement triggers a counter-movement in virtually every aspect of life. SEI should keep a cool head and stay true to the evidence and facts. This is what we put on the table."

SEI Executive Director Måns Nilsson, speaking at the end of the event

All SEI’s work is aimed at tackling climate, environment and sustainable development challenges. Many aspects of the institute’s work directly or indirectly address issues related to greenlash. This work is ongoing – in many places and on many fronts. Here are five examples.

This study analyses the resistance of Brazilian soy farmers to zero deforestation policies, highlighting their ideological opposition, reliance on conspiracy theories, and distrust of foreign and governmental regulations, which collectively manifest as “greenlashing” against environmental governance.
This project – Retrofit One-Stop Shop York (ROSSY) – is a collaboration among SEI, the City of York and other partners to contribute to achieving net-zero regional and national targets, aligning with York’s 2030 ambition. It supports the decarbonization of power, heat and transport sectors.
This project – Branching Out – is developing new ways of mapping the social and cultural value of trees to inform policy decisions regarding urban treescapes in the UK.
This perspective – Camaraderie in chaos – outlines how SEI’s work on gameplay offers a way to establish trust needed for effective decision-making and policy processes at a time of waning trust in institutions worldwide.
This journal article outlines how to enhance co-production processes for disaster risk- and climate adaptation-related challenges, based on insights from work in “real world labs” in Denmark, Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary as part of the DIRECTED project.