Swiss Federal Office of Energy (BFE/SFOE)
2024
Three high-relevance adverse target groups identified
Representative survey confirms the need for greater awareness and sensitization
Messages using a loyalty framing (team, club) are the most effective
On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), intep, together with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), explored how to reach young people who tend to hold adverse attitudes towards climate action as well as energy and environmental topics. Building on an in-depth analysis and a representative survey, the project identified relevant target groups and developed innovative approaches for engaging them in the future.
Building on the experience of the successful awareness campaign “#We are the Future”, EnergieSchweiz now aims to reach adolescents and young adults who have so far shown little interest in energy- and environmentally conscious behaviour
Intep, together with HSLU, was commissioned to support EnergieSchweiz in preparing corresponding awareness interventions from a behavioural perspective. The aim was to identify adverse target groups and to examine approaches for addressing these groups successfully.
To this end, intep and HSLU applied recent insights from Moral Foundations Theory. Conventional climate communication often relies heavily on the moral values of harm prevention and fairness/justice. The project therefore specifically explored how alternative moral values—such as loyalty, authority, or purity, which tend to carry greater weight among adverse target groups—can be used to frame messages more effectively.
Intep and HSLU carried out a comprehensive target group analysis based on desk research, focus groups, and a workshop with the SFOE project team. Three groups were selected for further in-depth work: young people with a vocational qualification, active club-based athletes, and status-oriented consumers.
Building on these insights, alternative message framings were comparatively tested in a representative survey with more than 1,500 participants. The tests confirm the research findings: framing significantly affects agreement with a message. Particularly effective were approaches that leveraged in-group loyalty—for example by appealing to “your team” (sports clubs), “your company” (businesses and organisations), or “Switzerland” (national pride). The results provide valuable input for designing future campaigns in an environment where traditional climate communication is increasingly met with resistance.
We look forward to receiving your detailed application documents with a letter of motivation to bewerbung@intep.com or simply via this form:
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