How should we talk about climate change? Dr Thorsten Grothmann, scientist in the Department of Ecology, explains in a short interview why it is important to talk about solutions.

Mr Grothmann, many people in Germany believe that the climate targets are not achievable. Are we facing a self-fulfilling prophecy?

The doubts are justified. Many people believe there is little they can do themselves, and there is also little hope from the state. However, it is possible to work on these beliefs, for example through participation processes. People then realise that together we can definitely do something.

Is there a lack of knowledge about climate change?

Psychological research shows that knowledge is rarely the decisive factor. Values and norms, among other things, are more decisive. In a study in the USA, for example, conservative people rated the risk of climate change as lower the better they knew about it. This means that knowledge is distorted according to one's own values.

Would it help to present the consequences of climate change in a more dramatic light?

If you scare people and paint catastrophic climate risks on the wall, you also have to communicate convincingly how these risks can be minimised. Otherwise, alarmism tends to lead people to take refuge in defence strategies such as fatalism and wishful thinking or to suppress the problem.

What else can be done?

We need a different way of communicating about climate change. We need to talk more about how climate protection and climate adaptation can work. The best arguments are often provided by concrete examples that have worked well in practice. They also act as normatively effective role models. In addition to communicating the climate risks, the task of climate protection communication should be to work more on convincing everyone - citizens, businesses and politicians alike - that it is possible to achieve the climate targets together after all.