CHALLENGE
The climate crisis is at our doorstep and affecting us all, yet the UK was fielding an all-male team to host COP26, the UN climate summit in 2021.
Climate change is a huge and existential threat, but women play a fundamental role in our fight against it. Any problems we face as a result will be easier to solve if both men and women are equally included in the solving of them.
We need equal representation of women in all their diversity for the leadership team and for the planet.
APPROACH
We teamed up with a brilliant group of women to launch #SHEChangesClimate to campaign for a 50:50 balance of women at the top level of COP26 leadership team.
Designed and built the digital campaign from scratch, including the brand identity (campaign logo, hashtag, messaging), the campaign website, digital strategy, social media channel set up & management, content creation and distribution, Influencer & Partnerships strategy.
We launched with an Open Letter that was signed by over 4000 women climate leaders and celebrities. We then managed SHE Changes Climate for 8 months and ran additional two campaigns to coincide with International Women’s Day and the G7. Our activity included:
A Digital Toolkit to harness our networks of powerful women and those with lived experiences to amplify the campaign and help put pressure on the COP26 Leadership team.
Content creation and distribution including graphics, GIFs, thought pieces and newsletters.
An influencer campaign that involved activists including Vanessa Nakate, Alice Aedy, Earth By Helena, Lily Cole and more.
Securing partnerships with UN Women UK, Earthrise Studio, Fashion Revolution, Rainforest Alliance, We Don’t Have Time and Feminist.
RESULTS
The Open Letter was signed by over 500 female climate leaders including Paris Agreement co-author Laurence Tubiana, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, economist Kate Raworth, environmental lawyer Farhana Yamin and National Geographic Explorer Sylvia Earle. Celebrities and campaigners including Emma Watson, Emma Thompson and Ellie Goulding.
The #SHEchangesClimate hashtag on Twitter came to a potential reach of 10 million during the launch period.
The campaign featured in international, national and consumer media including BBC Newsnight, FT, Reuters, The Sun and Marie Claire.
– We saw hundreds of brilliant women and organisations support SHEChangesClimate using our Toolkit posts & graphics, including Chelsea Clinton, Caroline Lucas, Martha Lane Fox, ActionAid, Farhana Yamin Licypriya Kangujam, 50:50 Parliament, Sarah Olney, Climate Group, Helen Pankhurst, Alice Aedy, Lily Cole, Earthrise Studio, Chicks for Climate and Alison Sudol.
The social media channels which we started from scratch, grew by over 9,000 followers in just a few weeks with an engagement rate far higher than industry average across all channels.
IMPACT
The UK Leadership team appointed 3 women.
The digital launch caught the attention of Alok Sharma (COP26 President), who invited the SCC for a meeting.
Further campaigning resulted in the SCC team securing individual meetings with several members of the COP26 UK Leadership team including Anne-Marie Trevelyn and Peter Hill.