H/Advisors Cicero were delighted to partner with Labour in the City to host an event last night on ‘The City’s Role in Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan’.
We welcomed an excellent panel of speakers and heard more from Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP about his vision for green economy and how Labour will work with businesses to get there.
Huge thanks to Ed and all of our panellists – Miatta Fahnbulleh, Sam Alvis and Joe Dharampal-Hornby – and Labour in the City – Tanisha Aggarwal and Nick Smith – for a truly insightful discussion.
In the following article James van der Graaf provides an overview of the key talking points from the event.
“The project that will define the next Labour Government”. This was Ed Miliband’s, Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero, rallying call at a joint Labour in the City and H/Advisors Cicero event this week that unpacked the role of the City of London in delivering Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan.
Ed Miliband was joined by panellists to discuss how the City can partner with Labour to unlock the capital needed to deliver Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan – its ‘North Star’ on the green transition. The Plan encompasses a comprehensive set of measures that will seek to position the UK at the forefront of the international push to Net Zero, with commitments to make the UK the first major country to commit to having a zero-carbon electricity system in place by 2030 and establishing a publicly owned energy generation company within its first year in government, Great British Energy.
The discussion centred on issues such as the UK response to Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the greening of financial systems and mobilising finance for the clean growth agenda, and the importance of a just transition.
Panellists warned against inaction and delay that is already threatening London’s position as the preeminent green finance capital of the world and called for the UK to seize the massive economic opportunity – positioning Labour as the Party to deliver a new generation of green, skilled jobs and a green inward investment boom.
Inflation Reduction Act
Panellists agreed that the Biden administration’s centrepiece climate initiative – the Inflation Reduction Act – which offers billions in subsidies and tax credits to incentivise the take-up of green technologies, as well as the subsequent EU response, pose a significant threat to the UK’s domestic efforts and risk capital flight.
However, they warned against pessimism and defeatism, citing the huge natural resources in the North Sea and the City of London as distinct competitive advantages for the UK. Miliband said Labour would implement a three-pronged approach in Government to unlock this potential: the establishment of an innovation-friendly policy and regulatory framework, the removal of obstacles such as a restrictive planning system, and deploying an active and interventionist approach to incentivise inward investment.
The greening of the City of London
Panellists noted the decisive shift in the politics of energy and climate change with a recent departmental rejig to combat the old trilemma of affordability, security and climate. They argued that the new Energy Department needs to be one of delivery, not just a policy workshop, with clear interventions to support the upscaling of green and affordable technologies.
On the issue of transition plans, panellists argued that they must be viewed as a tool of a modern industrial strategy with the City of London regulated as such. They thought that a robust system for mandatory climate disclosures offered a huge opportunity for the UK to punch above its weight globally and acknowledged that while disclosures are an important part of the puzzle, it is what happens next that will determine long-term success. The role of the regulators was also scrutinised, with questions over how the Bank of England has used the levers at its disposal to drive through climate disclosures.
For more information please contact Sophie (sophie.duley@h-advisors.global) or James (james.vandergraaf@h-advisors.global).
To help brands and clients stay on the pulse of the world’s rapidly changing political and regulatory health landscape, H/Advisors, the global strategic advisory offering of the Havas Network, today announced the launch of a fully integrated health care public affairs offering, H/Advisors Public Affairs. The new offering will provide clients with public policy and regulatory affairs consultancy across major global health markets in partnership with Havas Health & You, the world’s largest global health network.
The new offer is designed to meet a critical client need for a public affairs network is reflective of a new health care reality and address common issues across all three markets like health inequities and system strain. To do so, H/Advisors has built a world-class team of EU, U.K. and U.S. health public policy and issues management consultants with sector expertise & research capabilities that support clients across horizontal business challenges such as ESG, supply chain, digital transformation, technological innovation, and corporate finance. Mark Twigg, CEO of H/Advisors Cicero will lead the offer in the United Kingdom and European Union. Mike Hotra, Managing Director, H/Advisors Abernathy will lead the offer in the United States.
“Our clients are asking for something different from the public affairs marketplace,” said Donna Murphy, CEO of Havas Creative Group and Havas Health & You. “Public affairs expertise in health policy, cost and reimbursement are now table stakes. By prioritizing growth in this area, we can help clients shape not only their public affairs agendas, but also inform their wider corporate strategy across a broad range of issues including sustainability and diversity and inclusion at a scale that is unmatched by our competitors.”
“Only recently have we seen this strategic, cross-border alignment across different health systems. Clients expect their agency partners to advise them on a new and growing portfolio of public affairs issues in a changing policy landscape,” H/Advisors co-CEO Tom Johnson said. “H/Advisors has brought together H/Advisors Abernathy and H/Advisors Cicero to offer clients more than 40 experienced and strategically aligned professionals who together provide specific health market expertise and execution across the U.K., the EU, and the U.S.”
Mark Twigg, CEO of H/Advisors Cicero, said, “We are seeing major changes across Europe’s health care market post-pandemic. Policymakers are being forced to address inequalities in health outcomes and inequalities in access to health care systems at a time when there are huge pressures on public finances. Sustainability is also placing major demands on health care businesses to reduce emissions, improve supply chains and address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Regulation is moving up the agenda on all these issues. Influencing that agenda is now business critical.”
H/Advisors Public Affairs and Havas Health & You represent a diverse global portfolio of health and wellness clients including large, midsized, and small biopharmaceutical companies, health care distributors, hospital systems, private insurers, as well as medical technology innovators.
About H/Advisors
H/Advisors is a global organization of strategic communications advisors dedicated to building, enhancing, and protecting clients’ reputations and helping them achieve their business objectives. H/Advisors is part of the Havas Group, which is one of the world’s largest global communications networks.
About Havas Health & You
Havas Health & You unites Havas Life, Health4Brands (H4B), Lynx, Red Havas and Havas Health Plus, all wholly owned health and communications networks, with the consumer health businesses and practices of Havas Creative Group. The network’s approach is centered around Human Purpose and has the talent, tenacity, and technology that health companies, brands and people need to thrive in today’s world. For more information, go to
H/Advisors Cicero, the corporate communications and public affairs agency at Havas Village Dublin, has appointed former broadcaster Susan Keogh as its new Ireland Director. The move comes just sixteen months after the former journalist joined H/Advisors Cicero as a Communications Consultant after a long career in Irish media.
Susan will be taking over from Aideen Ginnell who has been promoted to European Director (Health) within the company. Her new role will now focus on supporting the CEO to grow the Health public affairs practice.
Since September 2021, Susan has been providing strategic corporate communications support to a range of Irish and international clients. With her unique understanding of Ireland’s media and political landscape, Susan has been helping clients devise and execute the most effective communication strategies to build profile with all stakeholders. Susan will now take a lead role in driving growth in the domestic market.
H/Advisors Cicero, with offices in London and Brussels, opened its doors in Ireland in 2018. The company was then acquired by the Havas Group in February 2020 which has offices in over 90 cities around the world.
Speaking about the changes H/Advisors Cicero CEO Mark Twigg said ‘Today’s announcement is really significant for our company and for the next stage of our growth. We are delighted Susan has agreed to take up the position of Ireland Director as we transition Aideen Ginnell to her new European role. We are very fortunate to have such a capable and ambitious team in Dublin and look forward to the next chapter.
H/Advisors Cicero, Ireland Director Susan Keogh said ‘Being part of the Havas Village Dublin gives us a distinct advantage to create value for clients across a full suite of communication services and in many different markets. I’m delighted to take on this role and particularly excited to build out our sustainability offering, Havas Genus, which we launched late last year, which brings together a broad set of capabilities to help businesses address their sustainability challenges. We’re lucky to have a range of exciting and innovative clients on our books and we’ve ambitious plans for what we want to achieve in Ireland’.
Havas Group has today unveiled a new integrated global strategic communications offer following the launch of the H/Advisors network.
H/Advisors brings together best-in-class consultancies in more than 20 countries, offering a full suite of strategic advisory services to clients around the world. H/Advisors was formally unveiled as the new name and brand identity of the leading international strategic communications network founded over 20 years ago by Havas, one of the world’s largest communications groups.
Havas Group Belgium and H/Advisors Cicero will provide seamless global and EU public affairs and corporate communications support to our clients, based from the Havas Village Brussels. H/Advisors is a global organization of strategic communications advisors with offices in major cities including Brussels, London, Dublin, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Zurich, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Washington D.C.
Commenting, Christian de la Villehuchet, Global Chief Integration Officer Havas Group and CEO Belgium, Havas Group, said: “Engaging with Brussels policymakers and the media has never been more important as Europe’s influence on the world stage continues to increase. With the EU increasingly serving as the birthplace and key gateway for organisations with global ambitions, I am thrilled to unveil this new partnership. Working together with H/Advisors Cicero we will provide the catalyst for clients to reach key European and international stakeholders and audiences to create meaningful change.”
Helena Walsh, Managing Director – EU Public Affairs, H/Advisors Cicero, said: “This partnership combines H/Advisors Cicero’s and Havas Group Belgium’s best-in-class approach to European policy and communications campaigns with a powerful global offer that provides unrivalled support for our clients.”
H/Advisors Cicero was delighted to be part of the Irish launch of the Havas sustainability network, Havas Genus this week, hosting leaders from across industry and the public sector at the Havas Village in Dublin.
Taking place in front of a packed audience at the Havas Dublin Village in Cuffe Street, the session welcomed Eamon Ryan TD, Minister for the Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, and Leader of the Green Party, to discuss the government’s Climate Action Plan, how government will support businesses to meet sustainability goals, and the key steps the Irish government is taking to contribute towards the global effort to combat climate change.
Following his speech, we heard from Mike Barry, renowned strategic advisor on sustainable business and former Director of Sustainable Business at Marks and Spencer, before welcoming Aisling Curtis, Head of Sustainability, Microsoft Ireland; Spiro Comitis, Net Zero Lead, Havas; and Shane Doyle, Senior Vice President of Alexion Operations, AstraZeneca for a panel discussion on the role of business in driving sustainability, chaired by H/Advisors Cicero’s Susan Keogh.
The event formally launched our sustainability practice in Ireland, Havas Genus. At Havas, we believe it is up to all of us as business leaders to drive the transformation that is needed, and to support other organisations in delivering truly meaningful change.
H/Advisors Cicero was delighted to be part of this week’s Irish launch of the Havas sustainability network, Havas Genus, welcoming Environment Minister @EamonRyan TD and leaders from across industry and the public sector at the Havas Village in Dublin pic.twitter.com/WBRiXzmKWJ
— H/Advisors Cicero (@CiceroGlobal) October 5, 2022
Stonewall is pleased to announce that Iain Anderson has been appointed Chair of Trustees.
Iain is Executive Chairman of H/Advisors Cicero and former Government LGBTQ+ Business Champion, with a thirty-year career as a political strategy and communications adviser and former journalist. Iain is appointed alongside two new trustees, Sadiq Gillani and Tabz O’Brien.
This comes as Sheldon Mills prepares to stand down as Chair of Trustees after serving the maximum of three successive three-year terms as a trustee at Stonewall.
Tabz brings more than two decades of experience in charity governance and local government, and Sadiq brings more than two decades experience of corporate governance and leadership, largely in the aviation industry.
You can read the full profiles of all Stonewall trustees here.
Iain Anderson (he/him) said: “I am honoured to be joining Stonewall as Chair of Trustees. Stonewall is the leading LGBTQ+ charity in the UK, and has had a huge positive impact on the lives millions of people across the world. Next year will see the 20th anniversary of the scrapping of Section 28 in England and Wales, a moment which Stonewall played a decisive role in bringing about.
I am proud to see a country where LGBTQ+ people are now celebrated and supported across our communities, and Stonewall can be proud of its enormous contribution to achieving and sustaining that transformation. But we cannot take this progress for granted. We see rising hatred and intolerance against LGBTQ+ people worldwide and too many LGBTQ+ people struggle to get the services they need and the opportunities to thrive.
I look forward to working with the Stonewall team to build alliances and extend conversations with those who care about universal human rights and progressive values, and to inspire and mobilise leaders from all parts of society to unleash opportunity for LGBTQ+ people everywhere.”
Sheldon Mills (he/him) said: “Huge congratulations to Iain on his appointment as Chair of Stonewall, a vital role in supporting Stonewall to achieve its strategy.
“Whether it’s same-sex marriage passing, getting LGBTQ+ inclusion on the national curriculum, inclusive workplaces, developing our global work, or becoming a trans-inclusive organisation, I’m so proud of the impact Stonewall has had on LGBTQ+ people’s lives during my nine years as a trustee.
“I want to thank Stonewall staff and trustees, past and present, for their tireless commitment to the freedom, equity and potential of LGBTQ+ people.”
Nancy Kelley (she/her), Chief Executive of Stonewall said: “Stonewall benefits enormously from the skill, passion and commitment of all our trustees, and we are delighted to have Iain, Tabz and Sadiq join the board.
“Sheldon has generously given nine years of vision, wit, challenge and love to the Stonewall family, for which we are all enormously grateful. The whole team is looking forward to welcoming Iain as our new Chair and delivering our ambitious strategy with his support.
“Our vision is of a world where all lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people are free to live our lives to the full, and the work of inspirational Chairs like Sheldon and Iain is at the heart of moving us all closer to that goal.”
