#KONTRAClimatechange
We're fighting climate change through communication.
A small but powerful division of KONTRA Studio that specializes in evidence-based communication.
We are an agency that offers communications services to companies and organizations actively committed to transforming society toward sustainability, developing a carbon-neutral and circular economy, and protecting nature. We develop strategies, run digital campaigns, manage media relations, produce videos, and design advertisements. We create communications that speak directly to the heart but are always based on facts.
Over the course of twelve months of our work, we secured more than 600 media articles with a value of over 220 million CZK and reached the Czech population more than 11 times. Take a look:
Showreel
A chronicle of our first year in climate communication. For a total of three years, we handled strategic communications for the European Climate Foundation in the Czech Republic and advised two dozen environmental organizations on their campaigns.
Check out our case studies:
Doctors for a Healthy Heart in Europe
Given that the coronavirus pandemic became a key driver of communication across society in 2020, health has become the overriding concern for most of the public. We therefore decided to use this situation to highlight the health impacts of coal mining and combustion in the Czech Republic and to create momentum for the medical community’s first involvement in a climate campaign.
The campaign was timed to coincide with the 2020 regional elections, which were also held in coal-mining regions, where doctors often run for office.
Last but not least, the fact that various scientific studies have linked air pollution to a more severe response to COVID-19 played a role.
Campaign on the Energy Crisis in the Fall of 2021
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, energy prices had begun to rise sharply in the Czech Republic and much of Europe as early as the fall of 2021. In October 2021, this even led to the collapse of several energy distributors, led by Bohemia Energy. At that time, approximately 700,000 households and businesses were affected by energy poverty. Most of them were forced to switch to a “supplier of last resort” and had to begin paying advance payments based on current market prices. In practice, this meant a 300% increase in costs for one-tenth of the Czech population. The primary goal of the communication campaign was to identify those affected and persuade the government to provide targeted assistance. At the same time, an awareness campaign was launched to highlight the causes of the price hikes and debunk the myth that rising emissions permit prices were to blame.
“For 20 years, we’ve been raising awareness about the problem of global warming. Now it’s time to promote solutions as well. And the transition to sustainability is a solution to several problems at once. It’s a security solution, because it reduces dependence on hostile regimes and their supplies of raw materials such as oil. It’s an economic solution, because renewable energy lowers prices for consumers. It’s a health solution, because ending the burning of fossil fuels will give us cleaner air. And last but not least, it’s a solution to climate change. Thanks to lower emissions, we’ll ensure greater biodiversity and better living conditions for our children’s generations.”
— Adam Panenka, founder of KONTRA Studio
Our comments:
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It's time to transform the energy sector; Russian fossil fuels should be a challenge for the Czech Republic within the EU
The development of renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic has been stagnating for a long time. This highlights a dangerous aspect of the Czech Republic’s prevailing relationship with the European Union. Until we agree on a goal, we won’t make a single move. Given the unabating consumption of fossil fuels from Russia, the Czech EU Presidency offers us a timely opportunity to move beyond mere goals and finally begin implementing changes.
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Everyone would like to live in Brussels
Except that’s probably not the case. Imagine this: It’s Wednesday, 11:30 p.m. You’re sitting there, having had several strong Belgian beers, munching on fries, and watching the international bustle around you with fascination. Next to you sits a couple—he’s speaking Italian and she’s speaking French. The bartender is Albanian, and a Serbian friend has stopped by to see him. Everyone you meet—from the shop clerk to the police officer to the garbage collector—speaks Walloon, Flemish, French, and English. An urban liberal’s dream. At least, that’s how I saw it this week. And like a little boy, I was thrilled by what, at first glance, looks like paradise on earth.
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Humanity needs to discover aliens. Or get more women into politics—otherwise we're going to boil to death here.
(…) So we’re left with only two options for saving humanity’s future on planet Earth. The first is that we’ll finally discover aliens, start to fear them, and the entire planet Earth will unite against them in a typical, masculine competition. As part of maintaining this competitive struggle with the aliens, we’ll manage to reduce emissions and halt the acceleration of global warming—perhaps even before 2030.
The other option is to get more women into politics and into leadership roles in society. That way, we’ll start working together instead of competing to see who’s the last to put down their guns. After all, even if you’re the most skilled gunslinger, your guns won’t feed you once you’re alone in the desert.
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It's time to break out a sweater. What?!
Yes, extreme heat can lead to sleep deprivation and even hallucinations, as scientists recently pointed out. Given that temperatures in the Czech Republic have been in the 30s for the second week in a row, that would be understandable. But you’re seeing things right—it’s time to pull out a sweater. And the first person who should put one on is Prime Minister Fiala.
Russia has attacked Ukraine and is occupying its eastern and southern territories. Combined with the two-year coronavirus pandemic, this geopolitical situation has created a climate and energy crisis.
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Successful global climate cooperation is not an oxymoron. The ozone regime is proof of that
This year’s COP27 has come to a dramatic conclusion. Two days after the official closing, there was still no final agreement in sight that would move the planet one step closer to carbon neutrality and climate justice. The obvious question remains: Is it even possible for countries to ever reach an agreement on climate issues, or are climate conferences just a parade of strong rhetoric without corresponding results? A few days before COP27, another climate conference ended in Montreal, and that one appears to have been much more successful.
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The "Loss and Damage" Fund Is Only a Partial Success of the COP27 Climate Conference
The conclusions of the COP27 climate conference have sparked mixed reactions. On the one hand, we have taken a step closer to climate justice; on the other hand, commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are becoming less and less ambitious. They thus fail to address the urgency highlighted not only by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but also by regions, cities, and local communities. While the creation of the “Loss and Damage” fund is a historic achievement in international negotiations, it does not advance the resolution of the climate crisis.
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"You can't win an election by focusing on climate protection. But you can by focusing on protecting the Czech countryside," says a communications expert
Czechs dislike the Green Deal mainly because it comes from Brussels, but they support its individual components. All you have to do is wrap them in Czech colors, and any politician is sure to win with them, says Adam Ondráček, who, through his agency Kontra, has been focusing on climate change communication for the past three years.
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Is the Czech Republic the energy heart of Europe, or is it more like a peripheral region of Poland?
Being at the heart of Europe is great, but we’re not making the most of it. How else could it be that the Berlin–Vienna train route bypasses the Czech Republic because it’s faster? We’ve fallen behind somewhere. But with the successful Czech EU Presidency now behind us, we have a tremendous opportunity to make up for the inaction of past governments.
Energy and transportation are the two largest sources of emissions in the Czech Republic that contribute to global warming and climate change. The Czech energy sector is 60 percent dependent on coal and natural gas, while transportation in the Czech Republic relies on an incomplete network of substandard highways and an extensive network of very slow railways. However, the density of the railway network in the Czech Republic is the highest in all of continental Europe. So how is it possible that traveling from Prague to Ostrava—whether by car or train—takes just as long as flying to Madrid?
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Central Europe could have energy that is one-third cheaper. All it takes is strengthening cross-border energy connections
According to the study, Central European countries have significant potential for wind and solar power generation, which could reach as much as 200 GW by 2030. That is equivalent to 100 times the capacity of a single Temelín nuclear power plant, writes Nikola Adamovská.
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Some Good News on Climate Protection to Start the New Year
Religion and the fight against climate change aren’t so far apart. In both cases, it comes down to whether you believe in it. I’m not talking about the scientific facts that clearly show that global warming is caused by industrial emissions produced by humans. I’m talking about the fact that if you want to do something about climate change, you ultimately have to believe in people—or rather, in humanity—and trust that we can do it.
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Twenty Years in the EU? A Record Number of Observation Towers Built and an Infrastructure Debt.
Over the past 20 years, we have received over 1 trillion crowns in EU grants. While we have spent these funds through a broadly decentralized sector-based subsidy system, primarily on a large number of smaller regional and local projects, other countries—such as Poland and Estonia, according to *Hospodářské noviny*, May 6, 2024—have used them differently. It turns out that while the Poles have set a record for the number of highways built, the Czechs have, in the meantime, built a record number of observation towers.
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Pollution with a License: How Tykač and Křetínský Profit from Exemptions and Subsidies at the Expense of Our Health
At first glance, it may seem that granting exemptions from emission and pollutant limits to large energy companies benefits the Czech state and its citizens. “Exemptions” from legally mandated limits have long been granted on the grounds that they support the Czech Republic’s energy stability and the Czech economy. However, a closer look at the context and impacts of granting emissions exemptions to the Czech Republic’s largest polluters raises the question of whether the state and its citizens are, in fact, losing out on such a policy. This is especially true given that, according to analyses, electricity from these power plants is not indispensable.
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Does the polluter pay? In the Czech Republic, polluters get away with it if they have political backing
The state’s leniency toward large companies is also due to the fact that, according to *The Economist*, the Czech Republic has the second-largest share of GDP in state-linked sectors in the world (Russia is, unsurprisingly, first) and is thus prone to cronyism. Many Czech billionaires would not be wherethey are todayif they had not benefited from lax or nonexistent regulation, or from the slow political response to the need to implement such regulation.
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Let those who caused the flood damage pay for it. The coal barons
Although the water from the recent floods has long since receded, the images of destruction are still fresh in our minds. The government and local municipalities are assessing the damage and figuring out where to find the money to cover it. And why shouldn’t the energy companies—whose coal-burning caused the floods—pay for the damage?
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Housing That’s Priceless. How Tykač and Politicians Are Turning Prague Into an Airbnb Open-Air Museum and Intimidating Journalists
According to statistics, in Prague there were typically three times as many Airbnb apartments on the market as there were for long-term rent in the years leading up to the pandemic. And after the pandemic-induced hiatus, with no significant countermeasures in place, that number is rapidly rising again. What’s the catch?
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Reason Over Passion: The Future of the Czech Energy Sector Lies in Wind and Solar Power
My greatest political wish has come true. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union, and this year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our accession. “It was more than a marriage of convenience,” said then-President Václav Klaus, as I recall, when the accession treaty was signed in Athens in 2004. But there was a great deal of reason behind that decision.
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A European electricity supergrid could be an integrated EU defense project
The Supergrid is Europe’s best bet for a stable, resilient, and secure energy future—in other words, a sustainable one. For years, there has been debate over whether and when Europe should become more centralized and federalized. The Supergrid is one of the projects where we can preserve our national characteristics while creating a truly integrated European defense. And there is no better place to locate this Supergrid than in cooperation with the Czech Republic—the true heart of Europe, pumping an electrical pulse through the veins of this great European body.
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Europe, do you have any cards?
Czech Prime Minister Fiala, along with half of the EU’s prime ministers and presidents, has sent an open letter to Ursula von der Leyen requesting more funding for high-speed rail. Is this even justified, given that some of these countries—particularly the Czech Republic—have not yet built a single kilometer of high-speed rail lines?
As the global order falls apart, we need a more unified Europe, and perhaps this is precisely the kind of federalization that most European governments fear out of concern for the loss of national identities. Perhaps a shared infrastructure can unite us, while allowing us to retain our national advantages and enabling each leader to play their political game on home turf.
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Thank you, Babiš, thank you
If we were to connect our neighbors via such a “Visegrád Interconnector,” it would lead to our genuine integration into Europe—and theirs—without any loss of national pride or identity. Electricity knows no borders. It doesn’t know whether it’s Czech or Hungarian. A number of studies, led by those from the prestigious think tank EMBER, have already shown that Central European integration into a single energy market would reduce electricity prices by 29%. It is precisely Czech industry, which is starved for energy, that needs such a boost. The estimated cost of 130 billion crowns for the interconnectors that must be built along the borders would pay for itself within three years given these savings. Russia will no longer be able to use energy to blackmail Hungary, as it has done in recent decades.
And once it’s all done, Andrej Babiš will finally hear the following from the benches of the European Patriots faction: köszönöm, my friend, köszönöm.
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Health on the Rails: What if High-Speed Rail Is the Greatest Untapped Tool for Prevention?
While debates over high-speed rail (HSR) have gotten bogged down in budget squabbles between the government and the opposition, as well as issues of land-use planning and land acquisitions, one aspect of this project remains remarkably overlooked: health. And yet this should be one of the strongest arguments for starting the construction of the high-speed rail lines sooner, faster, and with greater ambition.
According to a recent study from June 2024, conducted by a research team led by the Transport Research Center and the Faculty of Transportation Sciences at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the introduction of high-speed rail in the Czech Republic would bring significant health benefits—not only for passengers, but also for those who will never board a train.
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