While it’s all too evident that not all politicians support initiatives to curb climate change with the same gusto, it is perhaps logical to assume that those most exposed to the risks from climate change might be most engaged.  Alas, new research from Cornell suggests that is far from the case.

The study found that the politicians most likely to tweet about climate change were Democrats from wealthier districts as their constituents were more likely to be concerned about the climate.  Communities actually at risk, however, seem to have political leaders who seldom discuss the issue in public.

“Certainly on a partisan level, Democrats tweet about climate change much more than Republicans, but with both Democrats and Republicans, their quantity of tweeting is based on how much their citizens are concerned, and not at all by how much risk they face,” the researchers say. “Even in districts that face severe risks from climate change, politicians are not willing to push this topic beyond public opinion.”

Tweeting concern

The researchers looked at over 1 million tweets sent by 638 politicians between 2017 and 2019.  This sample covered every senator, representative, governor, and mayor from the 100 biggest cities in the United States.

The tweets were then compared to the climate risk each community suffered from, as well as the general opinion about climate change in that community.  The results reveal that the more concerned constituents are about climate change, the more their politicians would tweet about it.  This was not correlated to actual risk from climate change, however, as those most at risk were less likely to have politicians interested in the topic.

This somewhat counterintuitive finding is probably a result of wealth disparities between communities, as many of the communities most at risk from climate change also happen to be among the poorest.

“The least resourced governments may be focused on urgent economic issues and likely not in the best financial position to respond to climate change,” the researchers say. “This highlights the importance of prioritizing resources for climate change mitigation and adaptation in communities where high climate risks coincide with low per-capita income. It also highlights the vital nature of income equality and the role of community income levels in driving political action.”

Leadership response

The researchers were keen to understand more about the way leaders respond to the climate risk, and indeed how they use facts as the basis for their leadership or whether they simply follow public opinion.  They chose climate change in part because of the complexity of scientific information involved, but it was also quite evident during the Covid pandemic.

The researchers observed numerous governors following the evidence during the pandemic, shutting down schools, requiring masks, and so on.  This has not really been the case with climate change, however.

“The science of climate change really hasn’t changed since the 1990s, but there has been very little action by leaders based on that evidence,” the researchers conclude. “What has changed is public opinion. We’ve basically waited for the weather to get so bad that public opinion changed.”