Mobilising Action for the European Green Deal: The Role of Trust in Climate Change Strategic Communication

The European Green Deal sets a path for climate neutral development by 2050. However, its successful implementation depends on active engagement not only of policymakers but also society. To facilitate involvement, strategic communication is of utmost important. The conceptual framework of strategic narratives provides that communication is more effective if there is an alignment between formation of the strategic narrative at political level, projection of it in media ecology and reception of the narrative in society. While the theory recognizes the important role of perceptions in the effectiveness of the narrative, the main focus of scholars has been on perception of the contents of strategic narratives. Only minor attention has been devoted to perceptions about the narrator, in particular, the fact that the narrator is worthy to trust and reliable. This chapter claims that the perceived trustworthiness of the narrator is an essential intervening factor in the persuasive power of strategic narratives. Using Latvia as a case study and a mixed research design – a nationally representative sociological survey and semi-structed interviews with representatives of Latvian society – a correlation between the perceived trustworthiness of the narrator and the persuasive power of strategic narrative has been revealed. Looking at the engagement from the perspective of discursive environment, which either enables or disables action on climate change, the chapter provides insights both for academia and practitioners on the challenges green transition in the European Union faces, especially in societies with low initial trust to the government.