The morning began with a session from Luke Herbert, director of international communications at Climate Group, an international non-profit working to reduce global emissions and drive action in business. “There is so much uncertainty for us as comms professionals in terms of how the measures will take place and when they will come. But the pathway is actually very clear,” says Herbert.

“In the lead up to COP26 we are going to see everybody talking about Net Zero and businesses committing to Net Zero by 2030, or earlier if you’re in the developed world. That is the only way forward,” adds Herbert.

There is likely to be a hangover after the COP26 conference, especially as emission levels bounce back after the pandemic. Comms teams must wholly commit to Net Zero commissions and take responsibility for the business footprint.

“You have a direct role to play as well as the organisation,” says Herbert, as he gives a hit list for comms professionals to tackle climate change. Ensure your organisation understands the issue and then get ahead of the change by planning strategy for the future. It is vital to provide certainty and layout clear expectations and goals.

Discussing the plastic crisis, Sian Sutherland, founder of the Plastic Planet, shared shocking figures on the extent of plastic waste in business. “It is a failing of ours to imagine that words equal action. The plastic crisis is so fundamentally connected to carbon and climate crisis, and business is where we will create change at scale and speed,” says Sutherland.

A panel of speakers came together to discuss the role of PR in climate action and how to best advise clients and businesses to go green. Sian Conway-Wood, founder of the business community, Ethical Hour, warns against greenwashing, as unfortunately it is these businesses that are dominating the space in terms of visibility, despite lacking actionable progress.

Andras Sztaniszlav, strategic communication consultant at marketing agency, White Elephant Digital, says there are different levels to comms sustainability commitment but, “our impact on the general conversation with society and stakeholders, has a massive impact.”

Creative marketing and print provider, Resource, uses a range of methods to offset carbon emissions and create more sustainable business. Asif Choudry, sales & marketing director at Resource, says “most of our clients don’t know this is available to them, so we encourage customers have the FSC and World Land Trust logo on print to tell stakeholders they are making a conscious decision to use a sustainable supplier.”

Sustainable changes can happen at a corporate or granular personal level. Discussing the ways comms teams can encourage individuals to minimise their impact, Jayne Sterland, managing director at Weleda, says  “it’s all about shared responsibility and if we can change the narrative, we could make a really big difference.”

Communications around climate change must also avoid terrifying people into inaction. David Britton, associate director of comms and engagement at the Met Office, says, “as we push forward with our communications, we must address misinformation, myths and be really clear on the facts and science behind climate change.” At the Met Office the aim has been linking these facts to real life situations and sharing the consequences of individual choices.

Livvy Drake, sustainable business consultant at Sustainable Sidekicks, says communications are better targeted to telling people how many others are taking action, rather than appealing to their values. “People do things because other people are doing it. Education will not drive behaviour change so the role of PR is not enough to tell people what they should be doing, its about creating a space for them to change,” says Drake.

To close off the conference, Steve Castree, founder of carbon offsetting platform, Climate Wise, talked through the ways the platform is helping individuals and companies to tackle the crisis. Reporting climate action and strategy is increasingly important as consumers and clients favour transparent ESG plans, “If you’re able to communicate internally with your people and existing clients, that stands you in good stead to have the best people and retain those clients,” says Castree.

Climate Wise sees a three-step path to Net Zero for businesses, beginning with employee offset. Companies can offset their employees footprint, bringing internal PR through staff support an externally as a clear actionable step towards Net Zero. Corporate footprint must also be measured, reduced and eventually offset using various tools and strategies. Climate Wise partners with Smart Carbon to implement this change. Product footprint is a vital part of the annual process and beneficial to the external PR as consumers place higher value on these products.

Castree says, “It is absolutely the right thing to do environmentally. If you’re ahead of the game and engage now, you can help your employee relations, help existing client relations, help with new business and ensure it is ready for any regulation that comes your way.”