The European Climate Pact community is full of people doing their bit for a greener Europe and we want to hear how you’re making an impact! Tell us your story and show the world that the climate movement is alive, thriving and making a real difference.
You can submit your story at any time using our short online form. We review submissions on a rolling basis and will get in touch if your story is selected for publication.
If you shared a story during our initial call last year, thank you! You are welcome to share a new story anytime.
Let your story do the talking
The European Climate Pact’s Making an ImPact campaign will help you:
- Inspire others – We promote selected stories across our website, events and in a pan-European and local communication campaign, meaning your hard work gets the attention it deserves.
- Share knowledge – Reach beyond your own community so that other people around Europe can learn from your work, making a wider, stronger impact.
- Make an impact – You will show others that your climate action is making a difference and inspire them to do the same.
So, what do I do?
Just follow these four simple steps:
- Read our top tips – Get inspired with practical advice on how to tell your story (see below).
- Reflect on the impact – Take a moment to recognise the change you have made as an Ambassador or Partner. How has your action affected your community?
- Draft and submit your ImPact Story – Draft a story: just your real experience, in your words. Then use our simple online form to submit your story whenever you’re ready. You’ll also need to select a category: communities and climate action, competitiveness and innovation, or adaptation and resilience. We review submissions regularly and will be in touch if your story is selected for publication.
- If selected, we’ll support you to promote your story – We’ll make sure it reaches a wider audience – helping to get your work the attention it deserves.
Submissions are open year-round. Selected contributors will be contacted by the Pact Secretariat.
Please note that while we will do our best to share as many stories as possible, we can’t guarantee that all submitted stories will be featured.
The Pact Secretariat may also propose edits to your story to fit with our usual style guidelines. If so, we will be in touch to ask for your approval.
What can make your story stick?
We want you to tell us your story in your own voice, so feel free to get creative!
If it helps, here are a few tips:
- Start with the challenge: What were you trying to change, protect or improve, and why did this matter so much?
- Set the scene: Where and when did this take place? Who was involved?
- Be honest about your journey: Most things don’t work out first time. Did you face any hurdles or setbacks?
- Highlight the turning point: How did you overcome these hurdles and setbacks? What lessons did you learn from this?
- Reflect on your impact: What has changed as a result of your efforts? Where have you made a positive difference in your organisation, community, or even more broadly?
There’s no one-size-fits-all. We want you to tell us your story in your own voice, but we’ve provided some tips above to help you get started.
You’ll need to prepare a text of around 500-1,000 words, but you are also welcome to share supporting materials such as photos and videos as well as links to more information.
When you share your story, you’ll be asked to choose from a few simple categories. Just pick the one that fits best:
- Communities and climate action
- Competitiveness and innovation
- Adaptation and resilience
Impact can take many forms, for instance:
- Climate or environment related (e.g. reduced emissions, protection of biodiversity, climate resilience)
- Social or cultural (e.g. health, food security, sense of community)
- Educational (e.g. awareness-raising campaigns for the general public)
- Economic (e.g. entrepreneurship, jobs, savings, investment in climate projects)
- Technological (e.g. renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable buildings or infrastructure)
- Policy related (e.g. governance, partnerships across borders)
Only Ambassadors and Partners.
We are proud of the efforts of the Pact community and want to spread the word about the great work you are doing. So, make sure you talk about the role of the Pact Ambassadors or Partners who have made it happen, and please credit others who were involved.
You are also welcome to team up to submit a joint story, telling us how you have worked together.
Making an ImPact is a campaign to collect and share inspiring stories of climate action and their real-world impact, showing how communities are taking on climate challenges with innovation and determination.
Here’s a bit about why we started this campaign:
- Inspiring action: By celebrating the work of our Ambassadors and Partners, we want to motivate and inspire others.
- Changing the narrative: In changing and challenging times, we must show that progress is being made and positive change is happening, building a sense of hope for the future.
- Finding unexpected impact: Climate action often comes from local and national communities outside the EU climate ‘bubble’. We want to hear the stories we haven’t heard before, make them more visible, and show the true impact of the collective efforts of the Pact community.
- Sharing knowledge and lessons learned: As you tell the story of how you overcame hurdles and challenges, this will reveal knowledge and lessons that others can learn from – making a wider impact beyond your local community.
- Highlighting the role of the Pact community: We want people to know that there are many inspiring stories of climate action in the Pact community, and that this movement of people is really making a difference.
More information
If you have any other questions, please contact us at: stories
euclimatepact [dot] eu (stories[at]euclimatepact[dot]eu)
For more information about the Pact, visit: https://climate-pact.europa.eu/index_en