Communicating Climate

Communicating Climate logo, showing a speech bubble with 'Communicating Climate' inside. It is overlayed with a megaphone letting out lightning bolts. Below the speech bubble it says 'Sponsored by' and is followed with the MG OMD logo.

Welcome to Communicating Climate, our award-winning programme that empowers impactful climate communications.

Applications for 2026 are now open!

What is Communicating Climate?

Funded by MG OMD, Communicating Climate, now in its sixth year, is a free online programme for UK-based charities and community groups working on climate justice. This year’s programme will run between late September and early December 2026. Through workshops and peer support sessions, we’ll tackle the latest challenges facing grassroots campaigners in these extraordinary times for climate communications.  

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What can you expect to learn?

This year, we’ll explore: 

  • How to tell stories that build hope and trust in divided times
  • Making content that cuts through on fast changing digital and media platforms
  • Countering far right and other hostile narratives
  • How our comms can connect, persuade, mobilise, and challenge
  • The latest advice on creating engaging content
  • Tips for engaging with traditional media 

Sessions will be led by innovative communicators and sector experts, including Climate Outreach, Forward Action, Georgia Elander (Comms Advisor to Green Party Leader Zack Polanski), and more. These sessions will support participants to build lasting peer support networks.

We welcome both first-time applicants and organisations that have previously participated in Communicating Climate looking to update and further their learning. 

Does this year’s programme have a core theme?

We know that the stakes for climate campaigning have never been higher. The effects of climate breakdown are hitting fast, impacting people who are already the most marginalised the hardest. There’s a growing hostility to climate action and social justice struggles from the far right, populist leaders and the fossil fuel industry, whilst mainstream politicians remain cautious in championing the bold climate action that’s desperately needed.  

This year’s programme will acknowledge that campaigning is becoming increasingly challenging. But it will also shine a spotlight on the smaller, justice-focused climate campaigners and community groups that are helping to shape the future of the movement. Through fresh narratives, deep community connections and innovative communications, they are demonstrating what effective climate campaigning can look like today. 

This year’s Communicating Climate is for grassroots climate campaigners to explore this complexity together. It won’t necessarily provide all the answers, but it’s a space to hear from experts, have rich discussions with peers across the sector and provide mutual support.  

[Communicating Climate] has deepened my understanding of communicating the climate crisis and challenged me to think about audiences beyond our current audience. For us to truly drive change, we need to engage with a broader segment of society, so this will be something I'd like to focus on next year.

Participant of Communicating Climate, 2024

Who is Communicating Climate for?

Communicating Climate is for small to medium organisations that campaign, mobilise and organise for climate justice, and/or work on environment-related social justice issues like health, clean air or access to green spaces. 

This year’s programme is specifically designed for groups working to build UK public support and grassroots pressure for climate leadership at a local, national or global level. The content will be less suited to groups engaging in public comms about behaviour change or consumption choices.

Anyone who delivers comms, campaigns, mobilisation or organising work can attend on behalf of your organisation. 

We require one lead contact per organisation who will attend the entire programme and act as our main contact. However, you may invite a second colleague to attend any session to help share and embed your learning. The second colleague may be the same person throughout or change according to the session.  

Is your organisation eligible? 

Your organisation is eligible if it:

  • Operates with a charitable purpose (such as a charity, a CIC, or a CIO).
  • Delivers campaigning, mobilisation, organising and/or grassroots advocacy work to build pressure for climate leadership.
  • Operates from the UK and has an annual turnover of £5 million or less. 
  • Works on climate justice or another issue that intersects with climate justice (like human rights, health, or education). 
  • Has active plans to deliver climate justice-related campaigns, mobilisation, organising or grassroots advocacy projects in the coming year. 

If you are unsure whether you meet the criteria, please contact Chris Walker at chrisw@mediatrust.org to discuss this.

We especially welcome applicants who are under–represented or marginalised in the climate movement and wider society, due to their identity and/or lived experience. 

We also enthusiastically welcome previous Communicating Climate participants as the content will be new and updated. 

How will Communicating Climate run? 

The programme will run over 7 online sessions (each between 1.5 – 2 hours), starting with a workshop on Thursday 24th September 10am – 12pm. We may organise additional peer support spaces alongside these trainings.

A cohort of around 15 organisations will attend sessions together. We ask the lead participant for each organisation to attend each session.

The dates of all other sessions are TBC but will finish by Thursday 10th December. We will share a full outline of all sessions and dates in August.

All sessions will run in times slots between 10am – 4.30pm on Mondays – Thursdays.  

How can you apply?

  • Application deadline: Friday 31 July at 23:59
  • Confirmation of successful applicants: By Monday 24 August 

We have limited spaces on the programme and will therefore allocate organisations who suit the eligibility criteria best. 

If you require the application form in a different format, or additional support in applying, please contact Chris Walker on chrisw@mediatrust.org. 

Apply now

Our Guiding Principles

  • Climate change affects all of us, but not equally. Marginalised communities, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, Disabled people, and working-class and low-income communities are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the climate crisis and are often under–represented in policy discussions.
  • Meaningful climate action must address systemic issues. This means redesigning our economy and industries, and bold political leadership, rather than focusing on individual behaviour change. 
  • The climate crisis intersects with many other injustices, like poverty, racism, and health inequalities. To strengthen our movement and win just solutions, we need to communicate these links and work with people in connected movements. 
  • Small to medium sized campaigns groups have an essential role in climate campaigning. They can be agile, know their communities well, and innovate in ways the climate movement needs more than ever before.  
  • The climate movement must be skilled, agile and creative to win change. The world of public communications is competitive, fast-paced and sometimes hostile to communicating climate justice. We must create opportunities for climate communicators to learn, innovate and share best practice. 

This programme has given us the confidence to better our communications, by using our existing communication platforms more strategically, and by monitoring and measuring our effectiveness. It has also given us time- and cost-saving tools.

Participant of Communicating Climate, 2023

Communicating Climate is kindly powered by MG OMD.

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Our Corporate Partners

We enjoy outstanding support from the media industry. Our partners include: