Buchanan were engaged to develop VAALCO’s 2021 Sustainability Report. Buchanan’s ESG team aligned the report to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), as well as commencing VAALCO’s reporting in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Critically, the disclosure illustrates the Company’s commitment to defining a clear emissions reduction pathway and its pragmatic approach to introducing decarbonisation strategies in its operations.
The team worked closely with individuals from across the Company to deliver a report that demonstrates VAALCO’s strong commitment to Gabon, where it has operated for over 20 years and has close ties with the local communities. The report was produced by Buchanan’s design team.
Click here to read the report.
In February, Buchanan hosted a panel with Women in Mining UK, The Good Pitch: The Dos and Don’ts With Mining Media, to discuss how corporates can work with the financial and trade media in a way that works, including what is the best way to approach the media when you have a positive story or when there’s been some negative developments.
Guests included Neil Hume (Natural Resources Editor at the Financial Times), Carly Leonida (Owner and Author at The Intelligent Miner and European Editor at Mining Media International) and Kirsty Hickey (Business Producer at Ian King Live – Sky News). Ariadna Peretz ( Director at Buchanan and Head of Communications at WIM UK) moderated.
Below we’ve included some highlights but the one big takeaway was “it’s all about the narrative.” That means media relations departments have to work harder and smarter when pitching their corporate stories. No longer is it enough to have solid results in a bear market or a “killer” dividend policy. What journalists care about is the “so what” factor. Therefore the main question to answer before pitching to journalist is “Why is my company’s story interesting to the journalist’s readers?” Craft the narrative before you pick up the phone and when you have the journalist on the line, make it apparent why your news is important and why their readers would care.
Getting the basics right
Journalists are short on time therefore you need to cut to the chase and make sure your story is relevant to their publication. Do your research on what your target publication covers and make it obvious from the outset what you are pitching and why it is relevant to their readers. If it doesn’t seem relevant on the face of it, take the time to explain why it is because if it’s not immediately apparent, it will get ignored. If you think the story isn’t relevant to the publication, don’t get in touch as that is counterproductive.
Unsolicited emails don’t work because there are too many emails and too little time in the day of a journalist. To stand out, play the long game. Try to build relationships beforehand so that when you have a story, they know who you are and are more likely to want to work with you. It also puts you top of mind when journalists are looking for insight on a particular topic.
If you are ignored, don’t be discouraged. Kirsty says she often comes back to previous pitches to help her with programming.
Topics
The energy transition is the biggest topic right now but it’s not the only thing journalists are writing on. Carly writes a lot about responsible sourcing and all things tech. At the Financial Times, Neil is seeing a lot of interest in battery materials, lithium and giga factories.
Interestingly, the more popular the topic, the more selective journalists are about the stories they cover. For example, the bar is very high for ‘Net Zero’ stories because most companies are making pledges these days and there is a lot of ‘greenwashing’.
Op-eds
When it comes to submitting an op-ed, it’s important to include who you are and why you are qualified to speak on a particular topic. The op-ed should be in good form by the time it is emailed to the publication. If it takes the editor more than an hour to edit, it will be ignored. At the Financial Times, contrarian views are appreciated and a news hook is not always necessary.
Editorial calendar
Not all publications have an editorial calendar but if they do, it is followed religiously because it helps with securing advertising. If you’d like to pitch a story to an online publication using its editorial calendar, get in touch four to six weeks before deadline.
Negative news
There are stories we want splashed all over the place and then others we wish never happened. The consensus with our speakers was to own up to the news and speak on the topic.
When there is a negative news story, Sky News will always ask the company for a statement. At the FT, the requirement is to have comments double sourced and companies will be given plenty of time to reply to the journalist’s questions. Neil’s preference is to speak to the CEO on the record to find out what’s going on but often companies don’t oblige. At Buchanan we believe if you aren’t telling your story, someone else will, therefore it’s important to speak to the media.
You can watch the full video here. Watch until the end to find out what are our guests’ pet peeves – some are pretty bad and definitely not something you want to be guilty of!
Have any questions or comments? Get in touch with Ariadna at [email protected].
Buchanan’s ESG Team was engaged once again by Equals Group, a leading fintech payments business, to deliver the ESG section of their Annual Report. The Group, seeing people as central to its continued success, is committed to delivering an excellent employee experience. Engaging with employees across the Group, our team gained an understanding of how Equals continues to improve the customer journey and is putting increased focus upon customer vulnerability.
We developed a reporting framework around four pillars of People, Customers, Governance and Impact and aligned them with the four Company values, to demonstrate how ESG management is embedded into the broader Group strategy. The report communicates how the Group has supported its employees and customers, especially through the ongoing pandemic, whilst maintaining robust governance standards and considering its wider societal and environmental impact.
Click here to read the full report.
Henry Harrison-Topham (Partner and Head of the Health & Wellness Team) and Ariadna Peretz (Director) attended Plant Medicine Week (PMW), organised by Microdose, which is part of Conscious Fund, a Malta-based and psychedelic-focused VC firm that has partnered with Buchanan.
The conference was focused on how the psychedelics industry can take off – through legislation and regulation, tapping the private and public capital markets, integration into the mainstream health sector, and the many purposes psychedelics serve (e.g. women’s health, addiction, PTSD) and how to deliver them to society (e.g. retreats, clinics).
Speakers included Anne Philippi (CEO at The New Health Club), Courtney Barnes (Counsel, Partner, Policy Advisor at Feldman Legal Advisors PLLC, Barnes Caplan LLP, Decriminalize Nature), Tristan Gervais (Head of Cannabis Advisory at Chrystal Capital Partners), Catharine Dockery (Founding Partner at Vice Ventures), Bek Muslimov (Co-Founding Partner at Leafy Tunnel), Varun Renjen (Managing Director, Life Sciences Strategy at KPMG Advisory), Graham Pechenik (Registered Patent Attorney and Founder at Calyx Law), Justin Hanka (Co-Founder & Director at MindBio Therapeutics), Saboto Caesar (Minister of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, rural transformation, industry and labour for the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and Daniel Koppelkamm (Managing Partner at Convergence Partners AG) (among others).
Interestingly, the bulk of the corporates were from North America but the majority of the investors in attendance were from Europe and Israel. While it’s true that the large majority of companies in the sector nowadays are North American, arguably the best research and some of the most interesting companies are from this side of the Atlantic. We look forward to seeing how the sector evolves by this time next year. What we hope to see is more UK and European businesses in the spotlight and accessing funding from UK and European sources.
We very much look forward to the 2023 edition of Plant Medicine Week and hope to see you there!
Diversified Energy has published its latest Sustainability Report which highlights the successes throughout 2021 and ambitions for the robust ESG agenda. The Company has committed to reducing methane intensity by 30% by 2026 and 50% by 2030, whilst also aiming for net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. In tandem with the release of their Sustainability Report, Diversified has published a dedicated Climate Risk and Resilience Report consisting of detailed disclosure against the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure, led by our friends at Woodmac and JS Global.
Buchanan’s ESG team are delighted to have supported Diversified in developing this Sustainability Report for a third year running and are very proud of the work done to help shape Diversified’s journey towards net-zero.
Peel Hunt analyst Matt Cooper, in a note, said: “Diversified has made great strides in improving its environmental credentials in the last six months.”
Click here to read the full report.
Buchanan is delighted to have supported i(x) Net Zero (LON:IX.), an investing company that provide its shareholders the opportunity to create long-term capital growth with positive, scalable, measurable and sustainable impact on the environment and on the communities it serves, on its IPO on AIM.
i(x) Net Zero believes in profit with purpose, and its investee companies represent opportunities to invest in some of the fastest growing sectors which are addressing decarbonisation and the green energy transition.
Currently, i(x) Net Zero has six portfolio companies; three in the energy transition sector (WasteFuel, Carbon Engineering and Enphys Acquisition), as well as another three that are committed to sustainability in the built environment (MultiGreen Properties, Sustainable Living Innovations and Context Labs).
i(x) chose the list in London because it is at the centre of the impact investing universe and was a crucial next step for i(x)’s development, enabling it to accelerate the growth of its investee companies and provide investment to sectors helping to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues.
In order to establish Rank Group’s ESG strategy, Buchanan’s ESG team were engaged to conduct an in-depth materiality assessment for the business, to determine the most material risks and opportunities and define the scope of sustainability reporting. Working with subject matter experts from across the Group, Buchanan developed Rank’s ESG strategy, capturing existing initiatives as well as helping to develop their forward-looking objectives.
The Group’s inaugural Responsible Business Report, copywritten and produced by Buchanan, sets out this strategy. The report demonstrates how Safer Gambling considerations are central to the purpose of the business and presents the four key focus areas: customer experience, colleagues experience, environmental management, and community engagement.
Click here to read the full report.
In response to increasing interest in its ESG performance from key stakeholders, Lucid Energy Group engaged Buchanan’s ESG team to create their inaugural Sustainability Report that captures and presents its strong ESG programme. This involved defining Lucid’s material ESG risks and opportunities within its midstream operations, analysis of how the business manages down its ESG risk and constructing a comprehensive ESG narrative for integration into Lucid’s communications.
During this process, Buchanan provided consultancy and developed a strategic framework to help Lucid seize the opportunities presented by specific ESG issues. The framework is built around three key themes – Responsible Growth, Commitment to Excellence and Safe & Sustainable Operations – and was brought to life by our Design Team.
Since publication, Lucid has announced the milestone approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop the largest Carbon Capture and Secure Storage Project in the Permian Basin – an important tenet to their decarbonisation programme.
Click here to read the sustainability report.