When I first wrote this post (20th September), we were waiting for Rishi Sunak to make his speech widely trailed as watering down or delaying UK action on reducing climate-changing emissions. As I repurpose it for this blog, his speech about limiting local authorities’ powers to make streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists is being anticipated. Progress towards net zero is being seen by some in the Conservative Party as a 'wedge' issue in the run up to the next general election, despite polling showing solid cross-party support. But there is something going on: an understandable fear of unfairness or incompetence in policies to reduce emissions, fuelled by deliberate, cynical misinformation. How can governments (whether supra-national, national, regional or local) engage the public better on this issue?