The missing link between climate policy and action

From green growth strategies in Da Nang to climate adaptation efforts in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamese cities are increasingly investing in sustainability. Yet one challenge remains remarkably difficult: persuading people to change their behaviour.

Drawing on her research, Associate Professor Giannina Warren, a place branding expert and Senior Program Manager for Professional Communication at RMIT University Vietnam, suggests that climate policies alone are not enough. Cities also need a compelling narrative that inspires the local people to take part in climate action.

The gap between policy and participation

Much climate research focuses on what cities must do: reduce emissions, change transport systems, retrofit buildings, and so on. Associate Professor Warren's work asks a different question: How do you encourage people to join you, and build the appetite and catalyst for behavioural change across all those systems?

In her research of 20 cities across the UK and Canada, Associate Professor Warren examined how local governments translate climate ambitions into public participation, and why some climate initiatives succeed in building momentum while others struggle to gain traction.

She found that many cities were already taking significant action on climate change. Yet a surprising gap emerged.

“Many cities have the policies but not the narrative. They are doing the work, but they have not yet created the shared meaning around the work,” Associate Professor Warren explains.

In her research, very few cities successfully integrated climate efforts into a coherent city-wide story that residents, businesses, investors, and visitors could connect with.

She says such deliberate place branding matters because policy alone does not create transformation.

Governments can create infrastructure, regulations, and ambitious targets, but many climate outcomes ultimately depend on millions of individual decisions: how people travel, what they consume, where businesses invest, how buildings operate, and whether communities support change.

“A compelling narrative helps people understand how they fit into that bigger transformation,” she says.

Turning action into a believable story

Associate Professor Warren stresses that communication cannot replace action. In fact, she warns that narratives not supported by evidence risk becoming “greenwashing”.

Instead, effective communication must be grounded in what she calls “proof points” – visible, tangible signs that a city’s sustainability ambitions are real.

These proof points might include better public transport, expanded green space, renewable energy infrastructure, circular economy initiatives, or businesses visibly adopting sustainable practices.

“When people repeatedly encounter those proof points across the city’s communications, the narrative becomes believable,” she says.

This creates what Associate Professor Warren describes as a self-reinforcing cycle: policy creates visible change, communication turns that change into shared meaning, shared meaning builds belief and participation, and participation creates momentum for further action. Place branding is the mechanism that can connect those pieces.

The implication here is that communication should not be viewed simply as a supporting tool. It can become a core part of the process that helps create public buy-in.

“We often treat communication as the final step: policymakers develop the strategy, implement the policy and then call the communications team to tell people about it. I think that model is outdated, particularly for complex challenges like climate change where success depends upon a mindset shift and widespread participation,” she says.

A roadmap for cities

Associate Professor Warren believes Vietnamese cities have an opportunity to forge their own paths when it comes to communicating climate action.

“The lesson from the UK and Canada is that having good climate policies is not enough if nobody joins the dots,” she says. “Vietnam has an opportunity to join those dots from the beginning – connecting policy, investment, development, communication and public participation around a shared vision of the future.”

For city leaders seeking to build credible climate-focused identities without falling into the trap of greenwashing, Associate Professor Warren's advice begins with reality.

"First, map what the city is genuinely doing across the entire policy value chain – climate and environment, certainly, but also transport, planning, tourism, economic development, FDI, infrastructure and community engagement,” she says.

Second, communication professionals should be involved much earlier in the policy process because they bring knowledge of audiences, behaviour, stakeholder relationships and public sentiment that can improve policy design and implementation.

Third, cities must also recognise that climate action means different things to different audiences. A local resident, a small and medium-sized enterprise, a multinational investor and a tourist all have different motivations and barriers. The communication strategy must reflect this.

Most importantly, people need to encounter the transition in everyday life through visible proof points. And finally, both perception and behaviour should be measured over time.

Success, as Associate Professor Warren explains, ultimately depends on closing the gap between ambition and experience. The goal is getting better alignment between what a city says, what it does, and what people actually experience.

“A city brand should not simply describe the city you want people to see. At its best, it helps build the city you want people to actually live in. That is where climate action and place branding become extremely powerful together,” she says.

Behind every major shift is a story worth exploring. The Ripple Theory is a series of expert perspectives informed by research from RMIT University Vietnam. By connecting academic insight with real-world stories, the series helps readers gain a deeper understanding of the shifts unfolding across the economy, society, environment, and technological world, while exploring solutions and opportunities for what lies ahead.

Story: Ngoc Hoang