An In-house Case Study – COP26 from the Communications Perspective of Infrastructure Businesses

by Miriam Hanna, Director MadlinHanna Consulting

After delays due to the pandemic and uncertainty about whether it would be virtual, it was finally confirmed in May of 2021 that COP26 would go ahead in November 2021, in-person, in Glasgow. So as a communications lead in an infrastructure business, how do you make sure there is a clear message? How do you get cut-through? And how do you avoid accusations of greenwashing? I spoke to three experts across the industry to understand what made them effective at such a crucial time for their business.

Build-Up

In the lead up to COP26, senior leadership across the infrastructure industry were challenging their comms teams to make an impact in an incredibly saturated media landscape. For everyone I spoke to, a significant part of the lead up to the conference was the management of stakeholders. Louise Bryant at Costain was clear that honesty was the best policy and the best way to prevent any accusations of greenwashing. “Everything that we announced externally was validated to ensure that the information was accurate”. Teams often had to be talked down from ‘PR-ing’ everything but the trust they had in the in-house team was important for them to feel that the right things were happening.

During

In the course of the event itself, collaboration across the marketing and communications functions was essential for success. Katie Rogers from Arup said the COP26 gave her team the opportunity to truly integrate with colleagues who might previously have risked operating in siloes: “Members of the team working together, hosting events, reaching out to the media and briefing meant that the energy from COP26 ran through the business. It was not just a communications challenge or a marketing job, it was comprehensive and required all elements of the business to work together”.

Aftermath

Making employees into ambassadors was something James Banks from AECOM captured authentically when a team decided to cycle from London to Glasgow asking colleagues to support them through climate pledges in order to reduce their carbon footprint, rather than sponsorship. In the aftermath of COP26 it was a discussion point across the business and now there is a sense that everyone has bought into sustainable goals. “ESG is now part of our mandatory training and there is a risk committee to look at how projects align with the ESG principles we have laid out. These committees and training sessions are only effective with an engaged workforce and creating that passion has been a significant target for us.”

Thanks to James Banks, Head of Marketing & Communications UK and India at AECOM; Louise Bryant Group Communications and Investor Relations Director at Costain previously of Aggreko and Katie Rogers, Head of Communications UK, India, Middle East and Africa at Arup for their valuable insight.

MadlinHanna Consulting is a recruitment consultancy specialising in corporate affairs, covering public affairs, corporate communications and financial PR. Contact us on 020 8088 4102 for more information or a confidential conversation about these services and more.