How to get your greentech startup in the news

Almost every early greentech founder believes their mission is the most important thing in the world, and that is entirely understandable. The potential for the planet to be slightly less on fire because of what they built is a great mission. Unfortunately, it is not, on its own, a news story.

Journalists at Bloomberg, The Guardian, TechCrunch, and the like see hundreds of pitches a week that open with some version of "we're fighting climate change." It’s sad to say, but many of them will go straight in the bin, because your purpose isn't news. 

The founders who get coverage aren't necessarily doing more important work than the ones who don't. They've just understood what a journalist actually needs, and it is rarely what the company wants to do, but rather what it is doing, how it is doing it, and what it can prove.

Pitch facts rather than mission statements 

Eco aspirations are very common. Every startup in the space claims to be building a better future, and readers are growing numb to it. Haven't we all seen enough of "we are revolutionizing X, Y, Z." Those phrases live on hastily cobbled together landing pages because nobody can argue with them, and nobody thought to come up with a better idea to move people and create buy-in. What journalists need are specifics. The numbers. The before and after. The proof that something new is happening and has actually changed.

SlicedBrand Founder Ayelet Noff has written about this extensively, including for TechCrunch. She writes that only brands like Patagonia can get away with leading with identity and mission. For everyone else, the data has to do the work. So before you pitch your greentech startup to the media, find the top line that would still be interesting if you deleted every other sentence. If there isn't one, you're not ready to pitch yet.

Cut out the eco buzzwords and communicate expertise 

Carbon-neutral. Net-zero. Scalable. Circular. Disruptive. Revolutionizing. These words have been used so often by so many founders and copywriters that they no longer mean anything. A journalist covering climate tech has read these indeterminate buzzwords a thousand times, and it tells them nothing about what you have actually built.

The companies that consistently land coverage have founders who speak like engineers or operators, and comms run by career experts in their fields. They can describe in minute detail what is happening in their industry, the toxicity they are removing, the process they have shortened, and how the challenge is solved as a result. This is credibility, and it is useful not only for landing standalone stories about your business but also for cementing yourself as an expert and reeling in commentary and thought leadership opportunities in major outlets. If you are a bona fide expert and the antithesis to bland corporate jargon, you are golden for journalists working on a deadline. 

Overcome greenwashing fatigue with data

There has been enough overclaiming in the greentech space that editors are right to approach every climate pitch with a healthy dose of skepticism. A European Commission review of environmental claims found that 53% were vague, misleading, or unfounded, and 40% had no supporting evidence whatsoever. The findings were so stark that the Commission proposed an entirely new directive to regulate green claims in 2023.

A pitch that leans too hard on impact language without independent verification, third-party data, or an honest account of trade-offs will get treated with more suspicion than a pitch from a boring industrial company that verifiably cuts emissions.

Put credible voices in your corner

Building relationships with journalists is obviously a very important part of any PR strategy. But they are not the only people worth knowing.

The data points cited on the BBC or in the New York Times are rarely produced by a single startup. They come from organizations that pool expertise, challenge each other's assumptions, and produce something that makes the industry and the media take notice.

Think about hosting quarterly salons that bring procurement directors, sustainability leads, policy researchers, and journalists into the same room. Creating that space under your brand banner, capturing the conversation, and turning it into whitepapers and reports is one of the most underused PR strategies for startups. It builds credibility that cannot be faked, generates original data journalists actually want, and positions your company as a connector of serious thinking.

Do that consistently, with the right people, and journalists might start coming to you. In a sector as crowded and scrutinized as greentech, you can focus on outreach to journalists, but you can also become the person who built the room everyone wants to be in. After all, when you’re working to disrupt the status quo, it is worth asking whether your PR strategy is doing the same thing.