The Maris Stella Environmental Interpretation Centre, a former church converted into a public space in Madrid’s Usera neighbourhood, recently hosted the 4th Climate Communication Meeting, the last event before the summer break. Fifty professionals from foundations, NGOs and consultancies, including 10 Billion Solutions, spent a whole day examining how to advance climate action in a 2025 marked by geopolitical and socio-economic uncertainty and fatigue from catastrophic messages.
A shifting landscape
We opened the session by reviewing the new political and media landscape. A representative of the European Climate Foundation reminded us that climate action is no longer a marginal issue: it is at the heart of power struggles. This explains the fierce opposition it faces and forces communicators to seek unexpected alliances with business, financial and institutional sectors that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. The question is no longer ‘who is on my side?’ but ‘what can we build with those who are willing to move forward, even if they have different values?’.
Post-social media journalism: from easy clicks to community building
Journalist Juanlu Sánchez, deputy editor of eldiario.es and host of the podcast Un Tema Al Día, traced the evolution of digital media. Twenty years ago, ‘cyberutopia’ reigned supreme: all you had to do was go online to launch causes to stardom. Then came social media and clickbait, which for a time set the agenda. Today, news is consumed primarily through algorithms that prioritise retention and profitability, pushing complex content (such as the climate crisis) to the margins.
His recipe was simple: put people and their stories at the centre, rather than the cause. Instead of headlines that raise barriers (‘climate crisis’, “migration”, ‘feminism’), it is better to start with stories that make people want to listen and only then connect with the environmental or social background. To sustain these narratives, she proposed strengthening the community approach: in-house newsletters, messaging groups and podcasts backed by loyal distribution networks.
Narratives of desirable futures
Expert Saya Saulière from the agency Komons explored the social and cultural dimension in greater depth. She spoke of a ‘change of era’ where technological revolution, inequality and climate emergency converge, while fake news spreads faster than its corrections. Komons has studied public conversation in Spain and detects a chronic lack of desirable futures: catastrophic diagnoses abound, but there is a lack of inspiring visions that can mobilise people.
Her proposal: move from the classic ladder of engagement (inspiration-action-mobilisation) to a dynamic network of change. The aim is to activate latent communities through everyday tools (WhatsApp groups, existing communities, local volunteering) and to combine collective intelligence with artificial intelligence to research audiences, test messages and quickly scale up what works. A tangible example is the documentary series Hope! Estamos a tiempo, in which 10 Billion Solutions has contributed to the production: stories of regeneration told outside the usual green discourse, capable of building bridges with diverse audiences.
Three lessons for the immediate future
- There is a lot of talent in Spain. Seeing fifty professionals engaged in rigorous dialogue confirms that the climate communication ecosystem exists and can grow if it connects better and shares lessons learned.
- We need to update the ‘software’. Repeating familiar ideological codes can alienate those who do not feel drawn to them. We need new formats, voices and symbols that open up the conversation to conservative, rural, business and youth profiles that currently remain on the margins. See the initiative Las 8 Españas.
- Alliance is the new activism. The transition will require unexpected collaborators: from banks rethinking their fossil fuel portfolios to content creators who master algorithms. And it will be necessary to lead, not follow, the rapid integration of AI into communication strategy.
A reprogrammed compass
The 4th Climate Communication Meeting concluded with a clear consensus: the current era demands innovation, diversity and strategic humility. Talking about the climate no longer means repeating emissions graphs, but redrawing horizons that matter to different people for different reasons. If we want to keep the cause alive and prevent polarisation from devouring it, we need to break with inertia and venture beyond the beaten track.
After all, contemporary climate communication is not just about disseminating data: it is a bridge between worlds. Updating our software is, at its core, about starting to build that bridge with stronger, more creative and, above all, more shared materials.
