As world leaders gather in Scotland for the UN’s COP26 summit, one important item was missing the agenda; the effects of climate change on brain health. According to research, global temperatures could have a direct effect on a range of neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, stroke, and others.

UCB Pharma alongside EPICC (Epilepsy Climate Change) decided to create news about it during the gathering of world leaders at COP26, in Glasgow.

We created a one-off ‘living’ newspaper bringing together the leading voices in the field, making The EnvironMental Issue the first newspaper to clean the air and help people with neurological conditions.

More than just bringing the subject to people’s attention, The EnvironMental Issue was produced using algae ink that reduces CO2 in the atmosphere, printed on recycled fiber and manufactured using wind power. The overall carbon impact of the project has the long-term equivalent of removing 15 tonnes of C02 from the atmosphere.

With approximately £14,000 investment, we produced 2000 printed newspapers. Its online version generated 370K impressions and impacted over 300K people.

But more importantly, because of The EnvironMental Issue, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to invest more funds to research the impact of climate change on brain health. He made his promise on live TV during the Prime Minister's Questions, with an estimated audience of 120K people.

The EnvironMental Issue has also been recognised as:  

Best Campaign of COP26 & Top 15 PR Campaigns of 2021 - PR Week

UCB Pharma - The EnvironMental Issue

Gold partners