Communications trends in 2026: what’s changing and why it matters

2026 will be a consequential year for anyone communicating on climate and environmental solutions. AI is quietly reshaping how sustainability ideas are discovered and amplified. At the same time, expectations around trust, evidence and community legitimacy are accelerating especially in the most contentious and high-stakes sectors.

This isn’t just about audience behaviour. It’s about how influence works. The organisations gaining traction are not always those with the biggest budgets or boldest message. They are the ones who:

• Can explain what works with confidence and in clear terms
• Are visible in the places practitioners trust (including AI answers)
• Have measurable evidence of impact that others can validate
• Invest in stories based on lived, real-world experiences not just digital reach

If you work in communications across energy, nature, food, agriculture, culture, transport, finance, litigation and technology – especially within NGOs or cross-sector coalitions – you’re likely already feeling this shift.

This piece sets out significant, emerging trends to be aware of as a planning lens for the year ahead.

1. Increases in disinformation and ‘doubt-casting’ means building trust is vital

Environmental communications now operate in a landscape shaped not just by growing scrutiny, but by the increasing spread of misinformation (unintended inaccuracy) and disinformation (deliberate distortion). Sometimes this emerges as more subtle ‘doubt-casting’, which is often strategic and rhetorical, relying more on implication and undermining a premise without directly refuting it with hard facts.

Often our audiences are more sceptical, more technical and more invested than in other sectors so it’s vital that you work with the expectation that claims will be interrogated, challenged and, increasingly, politicised. This coupled with AI, makes it even more important to have verifiable data, robust crisis communications planning and evidence-based insights at all times.

For communicators in climate, nature, and ESG, this means credibility cannot be assumed. It must be demonstrated continuously not just in reports, but in everyday language, messaging, assets and framings. It also means disinformation needs to be quashed quickly.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Ensure your editorial policies map out what good, clear definitions look like and include verifiable sources for any data.
• Always include data points that demonstrate author credibility by providing detailed biographies, relevant published work and keynote speaking moments.
• Pre-empt misinformation and be vigilant to ‘doubt-casting’ by monitoring your channels to address comments that seek to  undermine confidence in your people, messages, policies or stories.
• Have a robust crisis communications strategy – and, if you don’t have one, talk to our expert team. We can help you create one.  
• Involve valuable third-party validation to back up and reinforce your messaging whether from a trusted key opinion leader or stakeholder from the target audience. 

2. IRL returns as a credibility lever not just an engagement tool

For climate and environmental comms, real-world experience isn’t optional. It’s how trust is built, demonstrating what is possible when change happens.

In sectors where greenwashing has diluted language and legitimacy, on-the-ground storytelling and in-person visits offer evidence of real-world outcomes. It’s also where the surprises and opportunities to learn are. Seeing visions come to life when mayors adopt feasibility plans and make it  reality in a city. Talking to communities where restoration in their area has happened. Witnessing the practical constraints of a new technology that is being piloted and pivoted.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Think of site visits, demo tours and co-hosted events to talk through the challenge and the opportunities to help build trust
• Document outcomes – not just moments. What changed, what was learned what was shared? Our Impact Framework helps with this.
  

3. Discovery starts inside AI tools not just on search

For many business leaders, funders and policymakers, AI tools like Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Manus and ChatGPT  have become the starting point for their information gathering, decision making and research. That changes the dynamics of visibility for your organisation.

If your content isn’t structured, referenced or cited in trusted sources, your perspective may not show up. That doesn’t mean chasing algorithms. It means treating discoverability as part of the credibility process.

This shift calls for a mindset change that means organisations need to move from producing content to building knowledge assets that add real value. It means being intentional about how your work is described, how methodologies are explained and how data is attributed. It also means actively contributing to the ecosystems of content such as FAQs and long-form explainers that underpin generative AI outputs.

In a landscape where AI is increasingly the first reader, structuring your content for visibility is no longer optional. It’s a foundational step towards influence.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Add FAQ pages to your website for specialist or technical terms (for example, Scope 3, biodiversity net gain, synergistic collaboration, nature-based solutions)
• Consistent approach to how your work creates an impact that outlines the methodology behind your initiatives, services or approaches. For example, map out how something works, what was measured, what assumptions were made and how it made a difference. It will help you to show up in LLM. 
• If creating content – whether a press release, blog article or long-form thought-leadership article – always cite any third parties, datasets or evidence sources. It’s always been good practice – now it’s essential. 
  

4. Print materials make a return, especially for complex topics

In a digital-first world, it may feel counterintuitive but many communicators are intentionally reintroducing print materials into their campaign and activation strategies, particularly at events, policy briefings and cross-sector gatherings.

When designed with care and backed by good, valuable content, a printed leave-behind or briefing document signals permanence and preparedness in ways digital decks often fail to. Stakeholders are more likely to retain, annotate and refer back to a well-crafted physical document than a link in a follow-up email.

Print also resists the easy scroll. It demands attention and in the right setting, it earns it.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Trial impact postcards or factsheets at events with QR codes linking to full methodology so you can still measure engagement.
• Small-format field guides explaining new standards or policy pathways that are easy to retain and remind.
• Use event lanyards to tell a story beyond the key event timings.
• Work with creators and partners to produce ‘zine-style’ explainers with community stakeholders.
  

5. Community voices matter more than wide reach

When it comes to specialist communications, particularly in climate, NGO and systems-change spaces, influence is not measured by follower count, but by credibility and context. High-profile influencers and celebrity accounts may offer reach, but they rarely shape the discourse that matters in technical, policy or practitioner-led arenas.

The voices that move the needle are often technical experts, place-based organisers, niche campaigners, nano-influencers and emerging creators with lived or professional expertise. These are the people who carry narrative authority because they are embedded in the work, trusted by their communities and able to speak with both specificity and relevance.

At Greenhouse we developed our CARE model and use our specialists platforms to pinpoint those leaders within specialist communities and opinion leaders who are: Connected; Authoritative; Relevant; Engaged. Communicators need to be more and more focused on this as human relationships and networks will become more important for delivering real-world impact.  

How to weave this into your planning:

• Read and seek out Substack authors, community newsletters and regional podcasts who provide not just original perspectives but also authentic, engaged audiences.
• Listen and engage within communities to identify those leading the conversations within your target audience group. By building relationships and actively participating, any asks down the line will be more informed and relevant.
• Seek out sector-specific creator explainers on YouTube with active, informed comment sections not just high view counts to learn what is working and whether they could work with your organisation.
• Dive into niche subreddits to spot where conversations are emerging and narratives are being tested and challenged in real time.
• Consider using something like the Greenhouse CARE model to do your network mapping and uncover hidden cross-sector influencers.
  
  

6. Hyper-targeted content is now essential

The future of communications is precision-led. AI is accelerating content localisation across markets, but too often this happens without the critical policy, audience insight or funding context that gives communications real weight. At the same time, job function is emerging as a more effective filter than sector alone, with decision-making influence varying significantly between roles. Think about your own organisation and the differing priorities and challenges facing procurement and finance compared with the strategists or marketing teams. This means that messaging increasingly needs to be hyper-targeted to individual roles and should also weave in trusted voices from within related spaces to gain real traction.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Segment by role and decision lens, not just sector. What matters to a CFO or operations lead differs radically from a policy or partnerships team.
• Localise by regulatory landscape, not just by geography especially when targeting grant-makers, policymakers or local authorities.
• Map the information ecosystem your audience trusts, including sector briefings, newsletters, WhatsApp communities or LinkedIn groups.
• Test messages through trusted groups, like peer influencers, stakeholder interviews and in private WhatsApp communities, before scaling. 
  
  

7. YouTube is where people ask ‘does this really work?’

More and more YouTube is becoming the go-to platform for evidence-led storytelling, particularly for those working at the intersection of climate, technology and systems change. Where platforms like TikTok are built for inspiration and immediacy, YouTube is now where audiences interrogate credibility, asking: Does this project deliver? Is the technology viable? What does it actually look like in practice?

This shift reflects a broader trend in sustainability and climate comms: the demand for proof, not promotion. We’re seeing a rise in content that demystifies implementation including retrofitting walkthroughs, nature restoration pilots, carbon accounting models and behind-the-scenes breakdowns of policy rollouts. It’s about practical, explanatory and grounded information with longer-form films gaining popularity and high view-through rates.


This is particularly relevant for business and systems change communicators where teams are actively searching YouTube to understand risk, feasibility and transferability of ideas. 

How to weave this into your planning:

• Make the invisible visible with short, plain-language walkthroughs of your climate tech, nature restoration projects or innovation pilots focused on real-world application. Ideally with rich, people-led storytelling.
• Embrace explainers that prioritise clarity over gloss. Use visuals and animations to show process, trade-offs, and outcomes especially for complex systems like nature-based solutions or cross-sector collaborations.
• Build for discoverability and accessibility ensuring transcripts, reference links and chapter markers gain search visibility, support AI indexing and meet accessibility standards.
• Decision-makers are watching YouTube in the same way they once read white papers  for insights, context, and comparables. Give them information and hard facts, not noise.
  
  

8. Newsletters remain a trusted source to be loved and nurtured

In an age of content saturation and algorithm volatility, newsletters have re-emerged as a high-trust format for communication. For environmental professionals, policymakers and business leads, newsletters offer what fast-paced platforms cannot: space for nuance, first-party control and testing grounds for new ideas and thinking.

This matters, because climate transformation is inherently complex. There are few quick wins. Shifting systems demand communication that is context-rich, caveated where necessary and open about what’s evolving. Practitioners are increasingly turning to newsletters to understand policy shifts, unpack pilot outcomes, get in-depth briefings and stay across sector debates. Slow, deliberate storytelling from sources they trust.


Substack now has over 3 million paid subscriptions, with tens of millions of free readers and  LinkedIn Newsletters have quietly become an engine for sector-specific credibility, with over 450 million newsletter subscriptions globally.  

How to weave this into your planning:

• Focus on what you’re learning and share insights from your work, behind the scenes news and on-the-ground updates. What’s new, what’s working and what’s not working yet. It builds trust and invites dialogue.
• Use internal voices as narrators with researchers, analysts, campaigners and strategists helping to tell your story. Give them space to speak plainly, with context.
• Prioritise cadence over volume. Weekly isn’t always better so aim for a format and rhythm that aligns with the attention span of your audience. Monthly, thematic round-ups often outperform reactive, high-frequency posts.
• Use Substack to build a direct, unfiltered relationship with engaged sector audiences especially for deep dives and unpacking complexity outside of brand constraints.
• Treat LinkedIn newsletters as a credibility builder for your internal experts and thought leaders. Author from named individuals to maximise trust and engagement within professional networks.
  
  

9. Predictive advocacy tools are reshaping how we track sentiment

The next evolution in stakeholder intelligence is already here. AI is moving beyond retrospective social listening to power real-time sentiment and advocacy analysis offering communicators a faster, more strategic view of what is gaining traction, what is being challenged and what might be coming next.

Emerging predictive advocacy tools are combining AI-driven sentiment analysis with network engagement tracking and sector conversation mapping to anticipate potential narrative shifts. This is particularly relevant in high-stakes, politicised areas like ESG regulation, carbon market adoption, fossil fuel phase-out and biodiversity frameworks, where early signals often surface through coalitions, expert commentary or campaign momentum – long before they appear in mainstream coverage.

For communicators, this changes the role of monitoring. It’s no longer just about measuring campaign reach or brand sentiment, but about scanning the landscape for cues that inform proactive response and message shaping. It also opens new space for collaboration using shared data with partners to coordinate action and narrative alignment across coalitions.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Explore tools that combine media analysis, policy tracking and movement intelligence for a fuller picture of your issue landscape.
• Build regular horizon scanning into your comms workflows, especially around moments of increased public scrutiny or legislative change.
• Use advocacy trend data to inform narrative testing, not just message refinement to understand what conversations are emerging and where might your perspective be most useful.
  
  

10. AI-powered testing that drives smarter creative decisions

Content performance no longer needs to rely on guesswork. AI tools are enabling rapid iteration and optimisation. At Greenhouse we use an advanced platform to test and analyse creative before it goes live on the channels. We assess for emotional resonance, cognitive load and likely audience attention.

This helps our teams forecast performance and adjust creative before media spend is committed. For climate communicators with tight budgets and high-stakes messages, this means more confidence in what will resonate, and fewer wasted resources.

How to weave this into your planning:

• Use AI tools to test multiple variations of messaging, visuals and calls to action before launch. If you don’t have these tools available talk to us and we can support you.
• Apply learnings to adapt content by channel, format and audience segment.
• Integrate optimisation into your creative process not just reporting and always have multiple variants to ensure content is tested for maximum results.
  
  

What this all means

2026 will not be defined by the loudest messages, but by the most credible ones.

As climate communications enters a new phase shaped by AI-driven discovery, intensified scrutiny and the rising influence of specialist voices, organisations must adapt. The imperative is not just to communicate, but to be believed. To be present where decisions are made. And to demonstrate legitimacy not only through evidence, but through relationships, relevance and lived experience.

This year, trust is not a background factor. It will become the message.

The most effective communicators in 2026 will be those who build credibility into every aspect of their strategy, structuring content to be discoverable and citable, ensuring it is carried by trusted voices and seen in the right places. They will elevate community perspectives, prioritise transparency  and treat visibility not as a metric, but as a marker of accountability. And they will recognise that lasting influence is earned within specialist, grounded networks not through reach alone.

This is not a checklist. It is a mindset shift. One that reframes communications as a tool for real-world change and impact, not just awareness.