Our Work in Sustainability

Cause UK were thrilled to be Highly Commended at this year’s Harrogate Advertiser Business Excellence Awards 2024 for our work in sustainability.

In our category were some incredible organisations: the global brand Belzona, the pioneering Make it Wild and the eco-conscious coffee house, Number Thirteen. Congratulations to Number Thirteen who won the award.

The recognition for our work in sustainability comes on the back of Cause UK gaining B Corp certification for our ongoing commitment to meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance.

B Corporations are accredited by B Lab, a non-profit network that works to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. Its international network of organisations supports a collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.

As well as meeting the highest standards of social responsibility and environmental stewardship a B Corp status requires, we’re proud to specialise supporting organisations that also have a positive impact.

Many of our clients operate in the arts, charity, social enterprise, and public sector, or are ethical businesses and environmental organisations.  Sustainability is at the heart of what they do.

We believe most businesses now take responsibility for people and planet, and we’re keen to work with those who share these values.

Below is a snapshot of some of our work in this field.

Going Green!

We have delivered PR for a number of ‘green’ organisations, including:

Nidderdale National Landscapes

We worked with the organisation when it was Nidderdale AONB for many years, from 2017 to 2023.

We worked across its wide activity, such as the visitor economy, conservation projects, and landscape heritage projects.

We also recruited a celebrity patron for its Wild Watch (citizen science project), and worked with Chris Packham and Steve Backshall on high profile nature talks, as well as promoting its festival of books and nature, NiddFest.

As part of our remit to promote the landscape, we secured a full-page feature in the Financial Times to encourage walking holidays in Nidderdale.

Coverage has included Ch4 News, Ch 5’s Springtime on the Farm, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Landscape Magazine, Country Living magazine, The Guardian, The Yorkshire Post. We created film and ran online film promotions to raise awareness of its Wild Watch citizen science project.

In 2019, for #LandscapeForLife week we asked farmers in Nidderdale to create a heart shape in the landscape with 30 tractors. The tractor art was broadcast and commented on by the BBC and seen by a global UCI audience in excess of 225 million across 150 countries.

Pendle National Landscape

Cause UK were tasked with promoting the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership and its diverse portfolio of projects. The Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership has brought together 14 projects to celebrate and engage people in the landscape.

PR highlights include:

-Pitching and co-ordinating an exclusive story with The Guardian for their work with the Pendle Radicals to reclaim a working-class heroine.

-Raising awareness of its peat conservation work, creating films with the Press Association, and positioning it on the national news agenda during COP26, with Gethin Jones tasting a special peat pie recipe live on air on BBC This Morning.

Our Coverage book for the Pendle project PR activity (which excludes broadcast reach), showed a 1.98B online readership.

Great Ouse Rivers Trust

We launched the new Great Ouse Rivers Trust in the media, with support from Steve Backshall.

We put their chairman forward for comment/interview on the run up to/day of the launch in June 2023.

Results included an interview with iNews environment correspondent, BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks, BBC Cambridgeshire, ITV East Anglia, and the Environmental Journal. This achieved strong national, regional and sector news coverage.

Media monitoring for the week-long campaign showed a total reach of 74.7M; the BBC News online article alone had a reach of 24,207,801. The client said: “We’re definitely on the map now!”

Himalayan Gardens – Nidderdale

We were tasked with raising the profile of one of Yorkshire’s hidden gems.

Cause UK secured a celebrity patron, Joanna Lumley, who described the gardens as “a slice of heaven” to boost profile for the Himalayan Gardens and Sculpture Park.

Media pitching and profile included a film on prime-time BBC Countryfile for its autumn special, which led to the gardens being shortlisted for BBC Countryfile Magazine’s ‘Garden of the Year’ Award.

Media work resulted in the gardens also being featured in the Sunday Express, the Sunday Telegraph, a four-page feature in Period Living, the Guardian included them in a travel feature; and multiple regional features included Yorkshire Living magazine, and ITV Calendar/BBC Look North.

The gardens reported a huge 75% increase in visitor numbers off the back of this activity.

Nosterfield Nature Reserve

Cause UK delivered three campaigns for Nosterfield Nature Reserve across an 11-month period, with the objective to help increase their volunteer base and community engagement.

We wrote bespoke features on their ground-breaking conservation work for COP26 for a special pull-out edition in the Yorkshire Post on climate change.

Work also including pushing out a release from Rishi Sunak’s MP office on his visit to Nosterfield to engage specifically with the quarry trade press.

Cause UK organised filming with the community tv channel, Leeds TV (Freeview 7 & VM 159/ Sky 117) who interviewed volunteers etc. Features ran in the Yorkshire Post, Stray Ferret, Yorkshire Living magazine, BBC Wildlife magazine, Yorkshire Times, Harrogate Advertiser, and other local/trade press.

If you work in conservation, we’d love to help raise awareness of your valuable work! Get in touch for a chat…