If you work in climate or environmental innovation, you’ve probably felt the shift: it’s getting harder to break through. Funding is tighter. Policymakers are distracted. And the media cycle? Faster and noisier than ever.
As someone who works in communications, I’ve watched this all unfold with a growing sense of urgency, not just because it affects my work, but because it affects the work of the entire ecosystem, from startups trying to commercialize to scientists and innovators trying to solve our biggest planetary problems.
We often talk about climate solutions needing scale. But before they scale, they need visibility. They need resonance. They need the world to understand why they matter.
Communicators as Ecosystem Builders
Marketing and communications professionals in the climate space have always worn many hats: translator, storyteller, advocate, pressure-tester. But lately, I’ve started to see our role differently: we are infrastructure. The strength of the message can determine the strength of the movement.
In Israel, where I work with several climate tech companies, there is no lack of innovative ventures; startups are tackling everything from water quality and waste to sustainable food systems and energy efficiency. But too often, their stories don’t reach the audiences that matter.
Whether it’s a lack of media attention, limited investor familiarity, or messaging that doesn’t translate across markets, the result is the same: solutions that could make a global impact remain under the radar. Recent research highlights that communication barriers, including conflicting values and lack of emotional engagement, are among the biggest obstacles to climate action.
This is a stark reminder of how critical effective, strategic communications is for companies needing that break. We can’t assume the science will speak for itself. Our job is to help it connect.
Tell the Story Behind the Science and Tech
Technical breakthroughs are important. But if we don’t communicate the human stakes — if we can’t answer “why does this matter, now?” — then even the most brilliant solutions will get buried in white papers and pitch decks.
Take Amai Proteins, an Israeli innovator creating sweet proteins that offer a healthier alternative to sugar. On the surface, that’s a biochemistry story. But it’s also a public health story; excess sugar consumption is linked to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, all of which disproportionately affect low-income communities and strain healthcare systems.
It’s a consumer behavior story, too. Shifting tastes and nutritional preferences are driving the food industry to rethink its ingredients, and “clean label” alternatives are in high demand.
Even RFK Jr., despite the controversy surrounding many of his opinions, is taking on food system reform, moving to eliminate dyes and other additives and expressing that he’d love to see sugar eliminated from the American diet.
And yes, it’s a climate resilience story. Sugarcane and sugar beet farming are resource-intensive crops that require large amounts of land, water, and fertilizer, all of which are vulnerable to climate disruptions. Replacing them with a low-footprint, precision-fermented protein could ease pressure on ecosystems and improve food system sustainability.
These are opportunities for communicators to widen the frame and show how innovations intersect with public values. That’s how a single ingredient becomes part of a bigger story.
Make Climate Action “Cool”
In a world drowning in doomscrolling, climate urgency isn’t enough. People want hope, and they want to feel like they’re part of something that’s not just necessary, but exciting.
We saw this with Tesla and the early days of the electric vehicle market. EVs didn’t catch on because people suddenly got worried about emissions; they caught on because someone made them desirable.
As marketers, we have the power to do the same for other sustainable technologies: to make algae cleanup, biodegradable packaging, or atmospheric water generation feel like the future, not a compromise.
Speak Across the Divide
Many of us are communicating in fragmented markets. Different regions, different priorities, different regulatory directions. But the best messaging finds common truths: Clean water. Job creation. Community resilience.
If you start the story with a universally accepted premise, you’ve created a foundation of trust from which to build.
FireDome, an Israeli startup inspired by the country’s Iron Dome missile defense system, offers a perfect example of this approach. FireDome has developed an AI-assisted solution to detect and suppress wildfires autonomously, addressing the increasing frequency and intensity of such events due to climate change — something we saw clearly in Israel last week.
FireDome’s story tightly aligns a climate solution with community benefits. Everyone can agree that defending against wildfires is a necessity to protect property and lives.
That’s because the impacts are clear. Last year’s wildfire, which raged through Southern California, left entire communities in ashes, dozens of people killed, over 150 thousand people displaced, and damages estimated between $250-$275 billion, according to AccuWeather.
The value of proactively defending against wildfires quickly becomes obvious. The alignment between technological outcomes and community values exemplifies how climate tech can build long-term momentum and break through with target audiences by highlighting these tangible benefits.
Building Communications into the Business Model
Startups often focus intensely on R&D, product-market fit, and fundraising — and rightly so. But communications can’t just be an add-on, revisited only when there’s “good news” to share.
If we believe climate solutions are essential, then we need to treat communications as essential, too –not an afterthought or a slide at the end of the pitch deck, but a foundational part of the company’s infrastructure.
Strategic communications, embedded early, does more than explain what a company does; it shapes how it’s understood by investors, partners, policymakers and the public.
The right narrative can open doors, build credibility, and help a startup punch above its weight. Because climate solutions don’t just need to work. They need to land. And that’s where strong, unifying, value-driven messaging makes all the difference.
