CLIMATE MAPS: Visualising Local Climate Futures

How well is Germany doing in containing the climate crisis? Where has most progress been made? Which sectors still need to do more? To answer these questions, climate protection postcards can be explored for all 401 German districts and all 16 federal states in the five areas of energy, mobility, buildings, agriculture and waste. The digital maps are interactively available on websites and social media. The physical maps are displayed in public places such as cafés in Potsdam and Berlin and on the campus of the University of Applied Sciences.

The aim of our research is to investigate readers' engagement with data visualisations on the topic of climate protection – across different media channels. A central claim is that the communication of climate change does not trigger fear, numbness or even a state of shock in the readers, but rather arouses interest and they engage with climate change and its effects on the spot.

The research is embedded in the BMBF project "VIDAN: Visuelle und dynamische Arrangements von Nachrichten", which investigates the potential of interactive data visualisations to communicate complex issues.