The Importance of Accounting for Stakeholder Values, Power Relationships and Language in Constructing Relevant and Trustworthy Climate Information

Abstract Facing increasing risks from climate change, governments at all levels have started to mainstream the use of climate information. It has been widely acknowledged that the inclusion of stakeholder knowledge and needs, for example, in a co‐design and co‐production process, is important for producing user‐relevant information. Here we start from a hypothetical example and two real‐world case studies from South America and West Africa to discuss the role of user values, power relationships and language in the construction of climate information. While these aspects have been discussed individually in several papers, we focus on the mutual influences of these aspects in the information construction and argue that, therefore, they cannot be considered separately. We identify five dimensions—the level of risk, the complexity of the scientific problem, user values, power relationships and language—to characterize the complexity of a given user context. Analyzing these dimensions can guide the choice and design of user engagement in a given situation. In particular, even basic research may benefit from such an engagement. Regularly accounting for these aspects in research projects may require substantial changes in the way research funding is organized and how the work of researchers is rewarded.