Despite decades of scientific consensus and record-breaking investment, global momentum regarding climate action remains stubbornly slow. Why? Because climate action is not just a technical or financial challenge, it is a human one. Successful climate solutions depend on more than innovation and regulation; they require cross-sector understanding, public engagement, and a shared sense of purpose. These are not incidental challenges; they are central, and they are solvable when approached with the right tools.
One of the most powerful of those tools is storytelling, which can build understanding, inspire action, and cultivate the shared will needed to drive change. Rather than working in isolation, storytelling enables partnership and collaboration, something Boster Group has been leading with our global clients for the past 25 years.
As part of our commitment to forging impactful, cross-sector collaborations, Boster Group partnered with Marisa Drew and the Royal Shakespeare Company during the West End run of Kyoto – the Olivier Award–nominated play by Good Chance Theatre – to host an evening exploring the role of storytelling in the climate transition.
Moderated by Boster Group Founder and CEO, Susan Boster, the event brought together Marisa Drew (Chief Sustainability Officer, Standard Chartered), Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson (the writers of Kyoto, and co-artistic directors of Good Chance), and senior leaders from finance, government, media and the non-profit sector for a conversation which surfaced a clear central message from participants: if we are serious about advancing climate action, we must invest in cultural and emotional intelligence. Creative storytelling builds connection, fuels motivation, and enables the perspective-taking required for multilateral action and cross-sector collaboration. In short, it is essential to unlocking the climate solutions we so urgently need.
Connections across unusual borders
One of the most powerful outcomes of cross-sector cultural initiatives is their ability to forge new types of connection across industries, geographies, and ideologies. As Marisa noted during the discussion, the arts foster “connection across unusual borders,” enabling dialogue that bridges divides between governments, corporations, civil society, and individuals. In the context of climate change – where collaboration is essential, and stakeholders often approach the issue from vastly different positions – that kind of connective thread is indispensable.
Beyond convening unlikely allies, culture also speaks to our emotions. To be effective, climate storytelling must reach not only minds, but hearts. Shifting behaviours, unlocking capital, and achieving consensus all depend on emotional resonance: on helping people feel the urgency to act, not just cognitively understand.
Marisa articulated how she has seen this unfold in finance: “When I think about the topics in climate that do not receive funding, it is often because we have not been able to tell the story properly—and the moment you tell the story, it happens.” She went on to highlight how the arts are a uniquely valuable partner for corporations trying to address this: “[The performing and visual arts] create an emotional connection, and that creates a moment. And those moments create relationships.” These relationships, in turn, can unlock collective capital at scale, particularly in private wealth.
“Private wealth, for example, is grappling with how to apply collective wealth to the causes clients care about in a considered way – and ‘collective’ is the operative word here. Individual actions are wonderful, but we need to scale capital quite quickly. I am telling you, the best way to do that is to create those emotional connections.” – Marisa Drew
Shaping the stories we tell with positivity
For storytelling to drive action, it must do more than raise awareness—it must create agency. Too often, climate communication leaves audiences overwhelmed or disengaged. At Boster Group, we help partners shape narratives that inform without paralysing and inspire without oversimplifying: that distinction is not only ethical, it is strategic.
Some of the seminal moments in the global transition to a sustainable economy have been cultural. Images of polar bears adrift on melting icecaps, sea turtles entangled in plastic, and documentaries such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and the work of Sir David Attenborough have helped to raise awareness. However, as our panellists reflected, awareness alone is no longer enough, and without care, it can be counterproductive.
While the climate narrative has succeeded in permeating conversations from board rooms to living rooms, it has too often left sympathetic audiences overwhelmed and disempowered. As a result, many feel disillusioned, and climate anxiety is spiking in Gen Z. The danger is that people stop listening. The opportunity is to tell a different story.
That is where arts and culture can lead. Kyoto, for example, is a story of compromise and courage, of politics working. As ‘Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson explained, this is not naïve; it is hopeful. If that consensus happened once, even imperfectly, it can happen again. That can be a powerful motivator, something Joe Murphy calls, ‘rehearsing hope’.
“We’re trying to tell stories that make this complicated world seem more bearable.” – Joe Murphy
The art of listening
Good Chance did not set out to write a play about climate change; they wanted to tell a story that would offer a counterpoint to the increasing political polarisation they observed in the world around them. In choosing the story of the Kyoto Protocol—and telling it through the eyes of Don Pearlman, a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry—they issued a quiet but radical invitation: to listen.
Listening is at the heart of effective multilateral action. As Kyoto demonstrates, progress on global challenges like climate change requires the uncomfortable but essential act of hearing from all sides—including those we might prefer to dismiss. The play invites audiences to sit with tension, for example, between developed countries calling for sweeping emissions cuts, and developing nations who still seek basic access to clean water, heat and power.
What makes Kyoto remarkable is that it makes the ‘agent of disagreement’ its protagonist – it trusts its audience to engage critically with diverse viewpoints. The stage becomes a space not for instruction, but for interrogation—for audiences to ask themselves, “What do I actually think about this?”
“The idea that everyone unanimously agreed on something as complicated and contentious as deeply binding emissions targets was magical to us.” – Joe Robertson
In our work across sectors, we find that the most effective collaborations are not built on shared interests alone, but on a willingness to listen to uncomfortable truths. Cultural platforms do not offer easy answers; they offer the conditions for better questions, and when thoughtfully deployed, create the space for that kind of dialogue—allowing leaders to engage with complexity, not bypass it.
To move the needle meaningfully in any area of impact, global leaders must recognise that facts alone are not enough—progress hinges on connection, motivation and listening. Cultural intelligence and storytelling are foundational to this effort, cultivating the shared understanding and human empathy required for multi-sector collaboration and coordinated action.
Photo (c) Manuel Harlan