Making meaning from metrics: humanizing climate data through storytelling

Stockholm Environment Institute; Singapore; On-site; SGD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job description

When it comes to communicating climate science, numbers and statistics alone often fail to capture public attention. In an age of information overload, the challenge is not just about having the right data – it’s about making that data compelling, relatable, and actionable. Across the climate communication space, creatives merge narrative, data, and visual design to transform scientific insights into public understanding.

As a science communicator, I’ve grappled with this challenge: presenting research in ways that inform and resonate emotionally and intellectually with audiences. It’s a continual balancing act between clarity and complexity, creativity and credibility.

At a recent data storytelling workshop hosted by Singapore-based Kontinentalist, co-founder, Pei Ying Loh shared how data storytelling can make data more meaningful and accessible.

Her path to data storytelling began with a geopolitical project on China’s Belt and Road Initiative: “Geopolitics is often a dry and rather boring discussion for many, especially the layperson who might actually need to understand its ramifications the most,” she said. “That’s when I came across data journalism and data storytelling as a solution to bridge this gap.”

Kontinentalist has done numerous climate-related stories to suit different audiences using formats from long-form features for researchers and policymakers to Instagram microstories for millennials and Gen Z with more casual language and visual metaphors to encourage empathy.

In SEI, one of the greatest challenges in climate storytelling can often be the science itself.

SEI’s scientific publications do not always translate to a policy action or a community dialogue. Knowing what storytelling style works for your audience isn’t just useful – it’s essential.

Concepts like temperature change or carbon emissions can be difficult to visualize, and scientific language often gets in the way.

Climate change is a conversation that is quite abstract. We’re often talking about changes in metrics – these are quite hard for people to fully grasp.

Pei Ying Loh, co-founder of Kontinentalist

She points to one of Kontinentalist’s most effective microstories, created in collaboration with environmental communicator Qiyun Woo: “ No, you’re not imagining things; it is getting hotter. ” The story combined animated data with everyday context to help audiences connect long-term temperature changes with what they were experiencing in real time.

Yet, as Pei Ying noted, even simple metrics like CO2 emissions can confuse or overwhelm people new to climate data. “Science and context stump most people,” she said. “The truth is, it isn’t easy to understand at all.”

In SEI, when researchers are deeply immersed in their data – it’s easy to forget how daunting a graph or dataset might appear to someone outside that world. That’s where creative interpretation becomes a powerful tool, not to oversimplify, but to open doors to understanding.

Visual storytelling as a bridge

Tofu Creatives, a design studio focused on sustainability and climate justice, has also been exploring new ways to make technical issues more accessible. Co-founder Desiree Dee traced their origin back to a 1 500-kilometre walk in 2015 from Rome to Paris, just ahead of the Paris Agreement.

“We shared stories of the Filipino experience of climate change across towns and communities in Italy, Switzerland and France,” she said. “We realized how important it is to connect with people through stories.”

Since launching Tofu Creatives in 2020, the team has worked with a range of organisations to turn climate topics into visual formats like whiteboard animations, infographics and explainer videos. One of their most meaningful projects involved visualizing a gathering of climate professionals and Buddhist leaders in Bali to explore burnout, eco-grief and spiritual resilience.

It was a reminder that we need to take care of ourselves to take care of our planet. We came out of it with a new way of seeing, being, and doing.

Desiree Dee, co-founder of Tofu Creatives

SEI has previously collaborated withTofu Creativesin pastMekong Environmental Resilience Weekevents, using visual storytelling to highlight regional climate challenges and solutions.

Hearing about this intersection of emotion, story, and design reminded me that data doesn’t have to be cold or clinical. When we centre people – especially those at the frontlines of climate impacts – data can become a mirror, a map, even a source of healing.

Friendly tools exist to transform data into storytelling

For older science communicators, myself included, terms like data visualisation, pivot tables, or coding can sometimes stir irrational fears. I say irrational because telling stories with data doesn’t always require coding experience or Excel wizardry. There are intuitive, beginner-friendly tools like Flourish or Lapis (developed by Kontinentalist) that help bring data stories to life.

But data storytelling isn’t just about sleek visualizations online. It can take tangible forms too, such as participatory mapping or data physicalisation – where data is mapped into physical forms to encourage tactile interaction and immersion. Think of science or children’s museum exhibits, where you might draw, place stickers, touch screens or flip panels to engage with the information.

At Mekong Environmental Resilience Week 2024, we created a form of data physicalization called The Threads That Bind Us – an interactive installation inviting participants to explore interconnections between environmental variables in the Mekong Region and the rest of Southeast Asia. Seeing people engage with the threads, weaving their own connections, was a powerful reminder that when data becomes something you can physically touch and shape, it becomes real in a whole new way.

Shayne McKenna, First Secretary (Development) at the Australian Embassy, Thailand, interacts with “The Threads that Bind Us” an interactive installation at the Mekong Environmental Resilience Week 2024.

Photo: SEI Asia.

Lessons for communicators

From physical exhibits to interactive media, illustrations to long-form features, the future of climate communication lies in diverse and inclusive storytelling.

Both Pei Ying and Desiree emphasize the importance of making climate stories feel personal. Desiree shared that the visuals that resonate most are those in which audiences can see themselves.

When we listen and draw, it is important for us to make people feel seen, heard, and understood.

Desiree Dee, co-founder of Tofu Creatives

Pei Ying added that avoiding doomsday messaging is also key.

People are experiencing climate fatigue. It’s really demoralizing to hear over and over how the world is heading for a disastrous, pessimistic future.

Pei Ying Loh, co-founder of Kontinentalist

By combining scientific insight with creative formats, communicators can help bridge the gap between data and understanding – and move people from awareness to action. The more we share what works – and what moves us – the more we can shape a narrative of change that truly reaches people where they are.