Profeina team’s effective storytelling and strategic alliance-building was essential during our nearly two-year public relations and advocacy campaign to promote low emission zones in Poland. What actions did we take and what lessons can we learn?
The topic of Low Emission Zones (named “strefy czystego transportu” – SCT) in Poland has not been immune to polarisation. Moreover, it has become the arena for one of the most intense public debates in Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw. What initially seemed like a technical issue has landed right amid a cultural war surrounding the green transformation.
An example that symbolically illustrated the problem was the noisy and largely unsubstantiated session of the Warsaw City Council in December 2023, during which councillors debated the resolution regarding the implementation of LEZ. Other examples include attempts to block the citizen’s consultation on this matter in Wroclaw in the summer of 2023, as well as the legal challenge of the Krakow LEZ by the Voivode of Lesser Poland and the emotions surrounding the decision he issued (January 2024).
Conducting an informational and educational campaign on a topic that is gradually becoming political and evokes (often justified) concerns and emotions is challenging. The belief that facts speak for themselves and that this is a sufficient argument to gain societal support is mistaken. This led us to reshape the campaign from an informational to a more narrative approach, including more open communication not only about the benefits (especially health-related) but also integrating LEZ into a broader discussion about the vision of the cities we want to live in. Importantly, we continuously drew lessons from the campaign and adjusted our engagement to the changing political environment and societal sentiments.
Meeting of the Warsaw City Office with media and engaged stakeholders – announcement of the intention to introduce LEZ
TL;DR a summary of the campaign
| Campaign name |
|
| Client (grantor) |
|
| Duration |
|
| Purpose |
|
| Objectives |
|
| Results (as of March 2024) |
|
| Key activities |
|
Detailed campaign description
Context & challenges
Since December 2021, Polish law has allowed local authorities to restrict vehicle traffic based on exhaust emissions, enabling the creation of LEZ similar to those in European cities, where the most polluting cars are not allowed to enter the city center.
At the same time, provincial Air Protection Programs have obligated Warsaw and Krakow to establish LEZ by the end of 2024. Is three years a lot of time for such a project? Contrary to what it might seem, it’s not much.
Experts estimate that the implementation of the zone alone should take local authorities about 2-3 years. Pioneer cities in Poland had to, within such a timeframe, meticulously plan the LEZ, organize public consultations, and convince councillors to adopt a resolution on the matter.
How to consult on a solution with a name that doesn’t convey much to those outside the circle of clean air experts, surrounded by numerous myths, and with few residents of the cities where the zones would be established fully understanding how they would operate?
An informational campaign was needed literally “yesterday”.
Parents expressing support for SCT in front of the City Hall in Warsaw
Activities & results
In late spring 2022, we initiated the campaign for LEZ, leveraging the success of a prior project promoting the TRUE report on real emissions in Warsaw. Our campaign unfolded in three interconnected stages: information, consultations, and narratives. While these phases occasionally intersected, it’s essential to highlight that each underscored slightly different aspects concerning LEZ, and we employed a range of PR tools throughout the process.
| Campaign phase | Key activities | Results & conclusions |
| INFORMATION
(spring 2022 – autumn 2022) |
engagement with stakeholders/allies – a series of workshops and meetings aimed at identifying who possesses what resources, goals, and needs, and determining to whom our support could be most beneficial.
social opinion research – clarification of the starting point (scale of knowledge and support for LEZ and other green urban projects). information hub – building a website for media and officials with key reports, information, and data regarding LEZ. media relations & paid collaborations with opinion leaders – launching a coordinated information campaign on LEZ in traditional and social media (collaborations including with Kasia Gandor, Tomasz Rożek). |
|
| CONSULTATIONS
(winter 2022 – summer 2023) |
PR support for Krakow, Warsaw, Wroclaw – creating informational materials for residents regarding the planned LEZ (FAQs, detailed technical and substantive explanations, infographics, posters, animations) as well as materials for city councillors (so-called arguments).
public consultations – providing substantive and communication support to teams working on LEZ in Warsaw and Wroclaw, so that as many residents as possible learn about the consultations and participate in them. media monitoring and analysis – continuous monitoring of traditional and social media, as well as sentiment analysis of the public debate surrounding LEZ. Sharing analyses with cities and NGOs. animating support for LEZ – encouraging those involved in social initiatives to participate in public consultations on LEZ and advocate for ambitious transportation policies. |
|
| NARRATIVES
(autumn 2023 – spring 2024) |
soft actions for air quality – an anti-smog radio spot parodying a cough syrup advertisement. A mini-campaign „What Does Your Street Breathe” raising awareness of the health consequences of daily smog inhalation. Popularization of research results regarding pollution emissions (including from ICCT, ECAC, and doctors from the Polish Smog project). A podcast series featuring eco-educator Paulina Górska, with experts on urban green policies as guests. facts and myths – communication and substantive support for active participants in the debate around LEZ in Warsaw and Krakow (including texts debunking the most common myths), to make the voice of supporters more audible. pre-election debates – for candidates for city councils in Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as presidential debates in Krakow. |
|
Conclusions & learnings
The essence of implementing advocacy campaigns, aimed at social change – in our case, building societal support for LEZ – is continuous analysis and adjustment of tactics to evolving political and social conditions.
Fragment from a newspaper informing about public consultations in Warsaw
Conclusions drawn after two years of campaigning for LEZ:
- Environmental organizations are held in high regard, with a significant level of trust from both the public and media in Poland, but often lack the resources to conduct large campaigns on their own. Combining forces and reaching out to several different organizations and activist groups can yield good results.
- Local authorities often lack the time and resources to effectively communicate with residents. Many cities are open to utilizing external expert support, provided they trust their social partners.
- Support for green changes in Polish cities ranges from 50-70%, depending on the proposed solution, but a significant portion of the supporting group is what’s known as the “silent majority.” Meanwhile, opposition to pro-environmental policies proves to be good “fuel” for some political forces to build a loud narrative, often utilizing hate speech and misinformation. To prevent progressive changes from being halted, the voices of social movements and residents themselves – not just experts – supporting the change must also be heard in the debate surrounding LEZ (and related topics).
- Media and public opinion are generally less interested in reports and social campaigns, and more interested in concrete decisions by authorities that affect residents’ daily lives. Each “event” (such as the start of public consultations or a debate at a city council session) sparks a wave of discussion. It’s good to have informational materials prepared in advance, written in simple language, including those that address the most common human concerns and debunk emerging myths.
- Media messages are influenced by audience engagement and clickability. Therefore, it’s crucial to develop objective informational resources about planned changes on official municipal and governmental websites.
- Unprecedented changes often give rise to false perceptions (both negative and positive) that are difficult to verify because they concern the future. The fact that similar solutions work in other countries and we know their effects is not an argument for many people. The rational debate then turns into a conflict of point of view.
- Even such a “technical” issue as conditioning the right to enter a zone based on vehicle emissions standards can have a significant socio-cultural context. It’s worth thoroughly researching and keeping this in mind, both in planning solutions and their communication. We cannot disregard the concerns and emotions of individuals who will be affected by the changes resulting from regulatory changes. But first, this group of residents must be well diagnosed. The next phase of the campaign will therefore focus on better mapping their concerns and frustrations and refining clear and honest messages that address these concerns.
Social campaign – What does your street breathe?
Grzegorz Dzięgielewski
Zuzanna Szybisty
Sophie Peck