The Sustainability News Review occasionally focuses on the personal career stories of UK communications and sustainability leaders, and the kinds of challenges they’re facing currently.

This week it’s the turn of one of the best-known sustainability communications experts around, who has worked across corporate, start-up, government and agency roles since beginning in journalism in the 1990s.

Kate Hinton, who is currently an external relations and content strategy consultant in sustainability, has witnessed enormous change since the early days of PR campaigns to raise awareness of London's air pollution. In her view, communications can now have a bigger impact on sustainable change than ever, but it’s often the small details that inspire it.

Not many people can trace the moment they decided to work in sustainability communications back to a chance meeting with a native American Indian.

But that was Kate Hinton’s moment of clarity, on a trip to the US, and one that caused her to move from the Sunday Express to a role creating and implementing early sustainable change campaigns.

“This was the mid-90s, when environmental comms campaigns were really in their infancy, and I joined the business-led London First to focus on initiatives like improving air quality in the city. Back then, we weren’t thinking about climate change or net zero, and it seems such a narrow topic compared to what we know today, but I’d decided I wanted to not just write about the environment but get involved in doing things that drove change,” she said.

Her career has since taken a number of different turns, moving to a role with the Environment Agency that exposed her to the full breadth of government understanding and action on climate impacts, to one helping sustainable energy innovator Greenergy to launch new sustainable fuels in the UK. She has also been head of corporate affairs for the Energy Savings Trust, before becoming an independent consultant who works with agencies and her own group of clients on predominantly environmental campaigns.

Her most recent work with Material Focus has included an integrated campaign to raise awareness of the issue of disposable vapes, by raising public awareness of the environmental implications which has led to a government ban, while her work for investment group Sustainable Ventures is unearthing a wealth of new stories about climate tech innovation.

“Much has changed in 30 years, but the common thread has always been the small details or a chance conversation that spark an idea, and so can drive substantial change,” Kate said. “Often the piece of information that becomes central to a campaign is buried in the detail of a report or insights document, and particularly for sustainability topics those nuggets of information can be what brings the issue to life and inspires action. You have to not just make it a good story, but make the call to action easy for people to embrace in everyday life.”

The external media environment is also very different now, with a disrupted and stark news agenda making it harder for sustainability issues to break through and a polarised, politicised environment meaning criticism or scepticism can be easily drawn. Campaign planners, and companies wanting to both inspire and share positive change, can become "influenced and overwhelmed” by negative voices but should focus squarely on the difference they can make to avoid being swayed, she said.

These may be challenging times for many people in communications, whether in agency or in-house roles, with much uncertainty and also much monotony. But wherever possible, there’s a need to continue to focus on the happiness and satisfaction you get from your job, said Kate, even if some days that seems to be in short supply.

“Happiness in the work is the most important point, as well as finding the small things that can deliver the best results and always being honest with those you’re advising. It’s a very tough environment for a lot of us at the moment, but not losing sight of those fundamentals is something I’ve always tried to live by.”