What makes a climate leader credible? It’s hard to take a climate advocate seriously if their personal actions contradict their message. Our aversion to hypocrisy makes it easy to dismiss leaders who don’t practice what they preach.
But climate leaders face a dilemma when it comes to cutting back on their own high-emitting practices – while they acknowledge the importance of leading by example, they also don’t want to be seen as virtue signalling or moralising.
A recent study led by Steve Westlake of Cardiff University explored this dilemma, by interviewing UK members of parliament to explore their attitudes and approaches to “leading by example” on climate. The paper points to evidence for the public’s appetite for clear and consistent leadership on climate from government, and contrasts this with avoidable high-carbon behaviours, such as King Charles’s jarring decision to fly by private jet to the Cop28 climate conference, which undermines their credibility.
Westlake and his co-authors show how leaders’ actions “carry meaning and send signals to observers”: actions speak louder than words. But they found that even though most MPs agree with the principle of leading by example, in practice they are reluctant to do so.
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Even when MPs took actions to cut their personal carbon emissions, such as driving an electric car, they did so quietly rather than to deliberately attract attention. The rationale was to ensure they have a record of integrity, should it be examined, rather than to deliberately motivate others to make changes.
MPs feared that highlighting low-carbon choices would backfire, making them targets for accusations of virtue signalling rather than gaining respect – they fear being viewed as “zealots” by their colleagues and alienating constituents. Politicians also didn’t want to promote low-carbon choices that some people cannot afford, such as changing their heating system. However, the authors point out that politicians didn’t address the significant disparity in carbon emissions between the wealthy and the poor.
There is an essential moral consideration to our behaviour: causing unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions is altering our planet’s climate and damaging its essential systems, and the consequences will be suffered by the people who are responsible for the least emissions.
But this study reveals a paradox – instead of worrying about not being seen as moral enough, politicians don’t want to come across as too moral. The authors speculate that this dismissal of leading by example could be to defend the “moral self-image” of their constituents.
Can this dilemma be resolved?
Westlake’s study came out around the same time that Green Party TD Brian Leddin published a post on LinkedIn about his experience travelling overseas without flying for the past five years. I spoke with Leddin, who chairs of the Oireachtas Climate Committee, about his choice to travel with a low carbon footprint.
He is careful to emphasise that not everyone can easily take this option, and that his position (and having no caring responsibilities) affords him the flexibility to work while travelling slowly.
Leddin also expresses this as a personal challenge, rather than a sacrifice or act of principle: despite the hassle slow travel can bring, he finds it fun and stimulating. Leddin, who is a trained pilot and in fact advocates for Shannon Airport, certainly can’t be accused of being a zealot, and he has generally been praised for living by his principles. One negative news article, which highlighted the very modest extra cost of his slow travel, was heavily criticised on social media.
Leddin’s approach is a rare but successful example of a politician walking the fine line between action and advocacy – a demonstration of quiet leadership. Rather than framing his choice to not fly as a moral absolute, or one that everyone ought to take, it is instead presented as an opportunity that could be more available and attractive than people think. I would also suggest it’s important for leaders to live low-carbon lives to better understand and address the barriers people face in making the transition themselves.
It’s crucial now to garner wide-scale public support for deeper climate action. Nearly all the modest progress Ireland has made so far in cutting emissions has related to changing our electricity supply and making new homes more efficient, which has not required people to make changes to their lives. But now the State must take a far greater role in shaping how we use land, both on urban streets and in the countryside, how people travel and heat their homes, and what kind of economic activities are supported.
To get people on board with these changes, leaders will have to show they’re willing to live the transition they ask others to embrace. Ultimately, climate leadership is more than policies – it’s about trust.
Prof Hannah Daly is professor in sustainable energy at University College Cork