John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The over-riding goal of the Government communications and public awareness campaign on climate change, the Change Campaign, is to engage the nation in such a way as to drive significant behavioural change to reduce and avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The strategic starting point is to create a shared understanding of the challenge. This is being done through working with stakeholder groups, through TV, radio and outdoor advertising, the use of web-based tools, public events and intensive media engagement.

The Change Campaign differs from most other public information campaigns in that the approach includes a significant stakeholder engagement element. Much of the resources of this campaign will be used to work in partnership with stakeholders from various sectors to develop appropriate, relevant and useful tools and techniques to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The approach was previously used by my Department in the very successful Race Against Waste Campaign. The cost of the Change Campaign for its first two years will be €12.5m exclusive of VAT, to be paid for from the Environment Fund. To date, over €1 million (€1,009,980.43) has been paid. Comprehensive evaluation and monitoring systems have been put in place to track the effectiveness of the campaign in delivering on its objectives. A quantitative benchmarking barometer, which covers a nationally representative sample of adults, will be used to track the effectiveness of the advertising element. In addition, qualitative research will be conducted periodically to steer the strategic thrust of campaign messaging.

The campaign website, www.change.ie, will be an important vehicle for providing information to the public. Its effectiveness in fulfilling this task will be measured through monitoring the number of unique visitors to the site, the amount of time people remain on the site and the areas of the site that they visit. The number of people who register with the site, use the carbon calculator and subscribe to the electronic newsletter will also be monitored. Given that a campaign of this scale, on an issue as complex as climate change, has not been undertaken previously in Ireland, it is difficult to make any meaningful prediction about the number of website hits. For the Stakeholder Engagement aspect, an initial benchmarking exercise will be undertaken to establish the current knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of those with whom we hope to engage. This measurement will be repeated at intervals throughout the campaign to assess progress. We will also monitor the number of organisations engaging with the campaign through their attendance at events and their use of the Carbon Management Tool, which will be developed as part of the campaign.

The campaign also seeks to engage print and broadcast media to help communicate its messages to the public. All media coverage generated will be tracked and evaluated on a daily basis to measure effectiveness. At the end of each year, a comprehensive and independent analysis of all media coverage will be commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of this aspect of the campaign. The Change Campaign will serve a vital purpose in helping individuals and organisations from all sectors of our economy and society to address the challenges that climate change presents. It will do this in a positive way that encourages people to play their full part in contributing towards Ireland's response to this global challenge.