Making changes to your everyday life can feel like you're playing a part in making the future more environmentally sustainable. But new data suggests that storytelling by energy organisations often places an unrealistic burden on consumers to be heroes in the climate change narrative, absolving the industry of its responsibility. Meanwhile, individuals' actions pale in comparison to the impact of big businesses.
“We need to be much more careful about how we talk about this,” says Dr Tom van Laer from the University of Sydney Business School in Australia, who authored the study published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
Globally, the energy sector is the largest contributor to carbon emissions. So van Laer wanted to check how accurately energy organisations in his country – responsible for almost half of Australia’s national emissions – frame their role in this.
His team pored over 300 different communication materials from 44 Australian energy organisations from energy providers to non-government policy regulators – between 2015 and 2022. Being a narratologist (an academic who studies storytelling and its influence) van Laer specifically analysed the materials' use of 'characters' and their role in the story.
THE ONE THING
The conclusion: most energy communications initially addressed what the organisations are doing to improve, "but then they very quickly say, 'But the consumer should really start taking this stuff seriously,'" van Laer says. "It's a nice little twist."
From preferred methods of personal transportation to the use of utilities, van Laer found that marketing materials from these bodies regularly redirect the focus to consumer choices. For instance, marketing material by the Australian Energy and Water Ombudsman, which has yet to respond to our request for comment, says there's a "new role for consumers within the broader energy system."
Similarly, the world's first 'individual carbon footprint calculator' was designed by the energy provider BP. This is likely encouraging people to scrutinise their own carbon footprints instead of looking at BP's, says van Laer. (BP has yet to respond to our request for comment.)
The overall pattern is the rise of a 'hero's journey' narrative, says van Laer, which he compares to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in which Frodo embarks on a gruelling journey to save Middle Earth from the forces of Sauron.
These narratives, which shift the responsibility onto consumers, are pervasive the world over, whether it's about emissions, plastic pollution, or food waste, says Dr Claudia Gonzalez-Arcos, a sustainability marketing expert from Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile. "We see it everywhere and it's more normalised than ever before," she says. But research shows they actually often backfire.
ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY
Gonzalez-Arcos's team analysed consumer responses to a nationwide ban on plastic bags in Chile in 2019. They found that consumers have experienced "physical, psychological and philosophical discomfort" as well as strong emotional reactions of guilt, betrayal and anger.
"They resist this responsibilisation because they feel they're the only ones taking the weight of climate change," says Gonzalez-Arcos. "Placing a moral responsibility [ont...
“We need to be much more careful about how we talk about this,” says Dr Tom van Laer from the University of Sydney Business School in Australia, who authored the study published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.
Globally, the energy sector is the largest contributor to carbon emissions. So van Laer wanted to check how accurately energy organisations in his country – responsible for almost half of Australia’s national emissions – frame their role in this.
His team pored over 300 different communication materials from 44 Australian energy organisations from energy providers to non-government policy regulators – between 2015 and 2022. Being a narratologist (an academic who studies storytelling and its influence) van Laer specifically analysed the materials' use of 'characters' and their role in the story.
THE ONE THING
The conclusion: most energy communications initially addressed what the organisations are doing to improve, "but then they very quickly say, 'But the consumer should really start taking this stuff seriously,'" van Laer says. "It's a nice little twist."
From preferred methods of personal transportation to the use of utilities, van Laer found that marketing materials from these bodies regularly redirect the focus to consumer choices. For instance, marketing material by the Australian Energy and Water Ombudsman, which has yet to respond to our request for comment, says there's a "new role for consumers within the broader energy system."
Similarly, the world's first 'individual carbon footprint calculator' was designed by the energy provider BP. This is likely encouraging people to scrutinise their own carbon footprints instead of looking at BP's, says van Laer. (BP has yet to respond to our request for comment.)
The overall pattern is the rise of a 'hero's journey' narrative, says van Laer, which he compares to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in which Frodo embarks on a gruelling journey to save Middle Earth from the forces of Sauron.
These narratives, which shift the responsibility onto consumers, are pervasive the world over, whether it's about emissions, plastic pollution, or food waste, says Dr Claudia Gonzalez-Arcos, a sustainability marketing expert from Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile. "We see it everywhere and it's more normalised than ever before," she says. But research shows they actually often backfire.
ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY
Gonzalez-Arcos's team analysed consumer responses to a nationwide ban on plastic bags in Chile in 2019. They found that consumers have experienced "physical, psychological and philosophical discomfort" as well as strong emotional reactions of guilt, betrayal and anger.
"They resist this responsibilisation because they feel they're the only ones taking the weight of climate change," says Gonzalez-Arcos. "Placing a moral responsibility [ont...
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BBC Science Focus (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025