Media relations & public perception

How do you get media coverage when your issue isn't on the agenda?

In 2021 the UK hosted COP26, aka the climate change Superbowl. 40,000 people, representing governmental, industry and civil pressure groups from almost 200 countries descended on Glasgow. The city rolled out its hydrogen-electric buses. I rolled out my favourite tartan-adjacent suit and headed up by train.

I was representing Europe's largest sustainable food NGO and we had a problem. The official agenda only had four items: coal, cash, cars, and trees. No-one was talking about food system reform, despite it accounting for 25% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. 

My job was to insert our message into the news cycle.

I achieved this by:

• Directly pitching reporters on the ground, sharing my card via camera crews, and networking everywhere from drinks stations, to official presentations, to the queues for the hydrogen buses

• Closely following the daily news cycle and finding a fresh angle to relate our message to the mainstream narrative. E.g.:

  • Why coal? Industry needs clean, efficient fuel. So do people. We need to talk about calorie densities.

  • Why cash? Climate finance needs to flow. Just like we need a level playing field for sustainable proteins. Let's talk dairy subsidies.

  • Why cars? Traffic CO2 is a solvable problem, thanks to EVs. But methane is 80x worse than CO2, and it's not cars but cows that are the problem. Let's talk livestock alternatives.

  • Why trees? Rainforests capture carbon and regulate water cycles. But the leading cause of deforestation is land clearance to feed cattle. 

I also created new content on site for the Diet Change not Climate Change campaign, filming a behind the scenes tour for our schools outreach programme.  

As a result of my work, I delivered on our key campaign goals: 

• I secured international media from CNBC, Deutsche Welle, Guardian, the BBC, and others

• I nurtured existing and new partnerships with ally organisations, strengthening future co-lobbying efforts 

• Food system reform was officially recognised at the following COP summit (Pavilion) - a historic milestone that advances future policy negotiations.