The Five Canadas of Climate Change: Using audience segmentation to inform communication on climate policy

engagement than socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge [6, 7], values, ideologies and worldviews act as perceptual filters in the process of interpreting information about cli- mate change, thus making them a crucial component of climate communication [8]. This phe- nomenon of biased assimilation and motivated reasoning more generally significantly undermines any hope of generating a “one-size-fits-all” approach to climate change communi- cation that is expected to produce change in public opinion and behaviours [9]. In response to these challenges, many scholars have emphasized the importance of knowing one’s audience and tailoring communication to fit the audiences’ preexisting dispositions and needs [9–11]. An increasingly common approach used to identify specific targets is audience segmentation, which aims to identify subgroups that share similar characteristics in terms of values, motivations, beliefs and behaviours within a population [12, 13]. While the use of audi- ence segmentation in the context of climate change is growing [14–16], to our knowledge, there exists no detailed audience segmentation of the Canadian population in the peer- reviewed literature. Research on Canadian climate change attitudes is relatively small but growing. This literature has examined climate change perceptions across ideological [17], par- tisan [18], and geographic [19] dimensions, demonstrating substantial heterogeneity in Cana- dian public opinion. Other studies are more focused on mitigation policy preferences [20],

attitudes toward energy technologies [21] and communication strategies around proposed energy infrastructure [22]. Yet little is known as to whether and how communication strategies ought to be adapted to speak to the different audiences and interpretative communities within this geographically large and culturally diverse top 5 fossil-fuel producing country. This remains an important limitation, as better integration of the principles of effective communi- cation could potentially improve climate change communication across diverse audiences, especially when applied to controversial climate policies that are debated in public discourse. To address these gaps, our study examines how unique audiences think and act toward cli- mate change in Canada and explores whether and how the level of audience engagement mod- erates the effect of message framing on support for carbon pricing, a policy that has received substantial academic attention while generating much political debate. The aim pursued is twofold. First, to identify and describe climate change audience segments in Canada and, sec- ond, to assess whether emphasis-framing effects around carbon pricing vary as a function of audience segment. To answer these questions, we examine data from a random probability survey of adult Canadians conducted in October 2017. Building on the pioneering approach developed by the Yale/George Mason University Program on Climate Communication [15], we apply Latent Class Analysis modeling to create a novel typology of Canadian public opinion

regarding climate change. We find that the Canadian population can be divided into five dis- tinct segments, offering potential targets for climate change communication. These audience segments range along a continuum of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, from the Alarmed (who accept climate change as a serious problem and take personal and political action to counter it) to the Dismissive (who reject the reality of climate change and oppose action). We then examine a factorial 2 X 4 survey experiment embedded in the same survey in order to explore whether audience segments moderate the effect of alternative messaging strategies for communicating carbon pricing in Canada. Overall, our results suggest that Canadians vary sig- nificantly in their level of engagement with climate change and that some messages may be better suited at speaking to specific audiences than others. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. We begin by examining the literature on climate change audience segments and carbon pricing communication. After outlining our research design, we present the results of our audience segmentation and survey experiment. We conclude by presenting the potential implications of our findings and proposing some new avenues for further research. PLOS ONE The Five Canadas of Climate Change PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0273977 November 23, 2022 2 / 21 Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.