THE HUMAN ASPECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Client - Wellcome Trust - Chapter Zero
Deliverables: Three-minute film, narrative structure, creative direction, design, post-production, short films for social media
Climate is now a health story.
The boardroom is where it changes.
Climate change is no longer a distant health risk. It is a present and rising one. Chapter Zero and Wellcome asked us to bring that truth into the boardroom. We made a three-minute film with six voices, filmed inside the Wellcome Trust buildings in Central London. It became the centrepiece of Chapter Zero's flagship event, in front of 300 board members, including more than 50 FTSE 350 Chairs and non-executives. Shown later in the Wellcome Trust boardroom, it received a standing ovation
THE CHALLENGE
Wellcome funds science on how climate change affects health. It has invested nearly £500 million in this research around the world. Chapter Zero brings climate into the boardroom. Together, they formed a partnership to help directors see health as part of their climate decisions. The film sits within that partnership, alongside the report The human aspects of climate and business, and practical toolkits and briefings still to come.
The evidence is strong. For the first time on record, the UK reached 35°C in May, June and July. By mid-July, it had already seen more days above 30°C than in the whole of 1976. Climate change made the record summer heatwave around 130 times more likely. The heat cost the UK an estimated £1.15 billion in lost output and 24 million working hours.
But numbers rarely move a room on their own. In many businesses, heat is still treated as a health and safety issue. Something handled on site, not discussed at the top. The film was one part of a wider communication strategy to bring that conversation to the board.
APPROACH
The aim was to bring the link between climate change and global health to board attention, and to inspire action.
We chose people as the theme. People are the engine of every business. So the film asks a simple question: what happens when that engine breaks down?
One scientist and five board directors, each speaking from what they have seen. Alan Dangour of Wellcome sets the scene: more fires, more heat, more drought, and what that means for workforces and supply chains. Magali Anderson tells the story of a 19-year-old roofer in France who finished his day, went home, collapsed and died. Jonny Wates describes what persistent heat and dust did to people on building sites. Aimée Pitman, Eran Klein and Selina Sagayam carry the story into the business case: rising risk, tighter credit, pressure on raw materials and prices.
We built the film like a trailer. Science first. Then the human cost. Then the risk to business. And finally, the board. It ends on a hook. There are many challenges ahead, but also opportunities. The film closes as if it were only the opening of a longer story, one still to be written by the people in that room.
We developed the narrative structure alongside Chapter Zero, and led creative direction, direction, production, design and post-production. We also created a series of short films for social media.
IMPACT
The film was the centrepiece of Boards, Climate and Pathways to the New Economy, Chapter Zero's flagship event in partnership with WTW. The auditorium buzzed with 300 board members, including more than 50 FTSE 350 Chairs and non-executives
Speakers included Nigel Topping CMG, Chair of the UK Climate Change Committee; Lord Adair Turner, Co-Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission; Rachel Kyte, UK Special Representative for Climate; Professor Emily Shuckburgh CBE, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; David Blood, Senior Partner at Generation Investment Management; and John Flint, Chair of WWF-UK
They were joined by Tom Delay CBE, Chair of Chapter Zero, Richard Gillingwater CBE, Jo Harlow, Fumbi Chima and Vicky Moffatt, CEO of Chapter Zero
The film was shown in the Wellcome Trust boardroom, where it received a standing ovation
The short films carried the conversation online, well beyond the room
WHY THIS MATTERS
Climate and health are rising fast on the agenda of philanthropic organisations. Business is moving more slowly. And real change happens at board level.
Each of the 300 board members in that room helps decide how a company treats its people, its supply chain and its customers. Many sit on more than one board. One film, seen by the right people, can travel into hundreds of boardrooms.
The link between climate and health carries risk. It also carries opportunity. At every step of the value chain there is a chance to rethink strategy, and to build a more resilient business. The film helped carry that conversation to where it counts.
“What’s missing isn’t the tools, the resources, the committees. What’s missing is having the right discussion at the right level at the board today.”