2026/07/13 by Patrick Ansah, Nicholas Badullovich, Edward Maibach · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy #Risk Perception and Management
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2753-3751/ae854c
Abstract Fossil fuel use is the primary driver of climate change. By systematically analyzing peer-reviewed research on the fossil fuel industry’s communication strategies and the public responses they elicit, this study maps how peer-reviewed research has examined fossil fuel industry communication strategies and public responses. A search of three scientific databases and five journals (covering January 1988–September 2025) yielded 64 relevant articles. These articles identify six messaging strategies, including emphasizing economic benefits, technological optimism, greenwashing, doubt-mongering, identity cooptation, and individualized responsibility. A small number of studies ( n = 8) empirically assessed public responses, mostly focusing on the impact of consumer attitudes and brand-related outcomes, and largely ignoring impacts on social license to operate and policy and regulatory outcomes. This finding–the dearth of research on public responses to fossil fuel industry communication, especially the absence of impacts research on industry social license and policy and regulatory outcomes–is, in our view, the key contribution of this review.