Communications Manager, Zero Emission Freight

C40 Cities is seeking a Communications Manager for Zero Emission Freight in Johannesburg, South Africa. The role involves working with a network of mayors to combat climate change and promote sustainable practices. C40 focuses on equity and diversity, aiming to create an inclusive environment. The organization supports collaboration among city governments, providing research and technical expertise to enhance urban policies for climate action.
C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities, who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis, and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.

C40’s team of 400+ staff is based in offices in London, in New York, Johannesburg, Singapore, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris, and individual staff based across 25+ different locations.

The strategic direction of the organisation is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors, which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, responsible for operational oversight. A regionally diverse management team, led by Executive Director Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Realdania.

Our international staff work with the C40 network under the leadership of city governments to deliver this mission. Using a data-driven approach, our team identifies and promotes the exchange of proven programmes and policies developed by cities; provides world-class research, technical expertise and access to key partners to deliver new programmes and policies with cities; and communicates cities’ individual achievements and collective leadership.

Diversity Statement

C40 is committed to supporting and promoting equity and diversity and creating an inclusive working environment for everyone. We believe that when people with different life experiences are involved in decision-making, we deliver better.

We believe having a diverse workforce ensures we connect better with all the different communities and people affected by the climate crisis. This enables us to make better decisions which lead to better outcomes in the work we do through increased creativity, productivity, greater global impact alongside a broader perspective and approach to our work.

We welcome applicants that are diverse in terms of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective. Our goal is for C40 to be an environment where everyone, from any background, can flourish and can be themselves whilst contributing to our mission. If you identify as a person with a disability, we work to provide reasonable appropriate measures and any additional support needed to provide an equitable working experience. If you are living with a disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity please inform us, to provide you with the proper assistance in the application process.

C40 promotes a work culture where staff can input to improve equity, diversity and inclusion through staff-led groups and formal forums. We know that creating our ideal working environment is a learning process and we are committed to the ongoing effort.

Department Description

The C40 Communications team is responsible for strategically positioning C40 as one of the world’s most impactful climate organisations by celebrating the ambitious, equitable action underway in C40 cities and establishing our mayors as global leaders of the climate movement. Through our global communications, creative campaigns and events, we aim to shift the narrative and inspire real progress on the greatest challenge humanity is facing today.

Position Description

The Communications Manager, Zero Emission Freight will manage and coordinate cross-regional communications for Laneshift, a partnership between C40 and The Climate Pledge to decarbonize freight in Latin America and India. This role will work closely with colleagues across various teams to support programme delivery, including the Latin America and South and West Asia regional teams, as well as the global Zero Emission Freight team. This role will also serve as a key link between programme delivery teams, the Communications team and the Campaigns team, ensuring that all strategies and outputs align with C40’s global communications strategy.

This role will serve as the primary communications contact with the donor and support the co-creation of communications activities, events and other deliverables at global and regional levels. They will support all communications activities regarding Laneshift at global events, i.e., U20, COP, New York City Climate Week and more. They will be an organised and proactive individual with excellent communication, organisational and project management skills. The person will liaise continuously with focal points responsible for Communications and Campaigns in the regional teams.

The successful candidate will be a quick learner who thrives in dynamic, collaborative environments and is skilled in stakeholder engagement, communications and coordination across regions, teams and diverse groups of stakeholders.

Responsibilities:
• Develop and execute a communications strategy for the Laneshift programme alongside the funder;
• Manage and coordinate all Laneshift communication and campaign activities with C40’s Communications team, ensuring alignment between funder, regional and organisation-wide goals;
• Draft and/or copyedit communications materials including, but not limited to, thought leadership pieces, press releases, web content, and social media copy, ensuring high-quality content and alignment with key messages;
• Prepare compelling and visual reports, presentations, and other knowledge-sharing products, based on relevant material and draft internal reports from other members of the team to support the dissemination of project results, best practices, and lessons learned;
• Ensure that programme messaging is consistent with C40’s communications strategy and aligns with C40’s overall mission, voice and graphic identity;
• Liaise with partners and other C40 teams to develop and request input and approvals for publications, events and other relevant materials;
• Collaborate on the creation of toolkits for cities, partners and key stakeholders to communicate about events, announcements and campaigns;
• Actively participate and, where relevant, support the development and delivery of key advocacy and campaigning efforts related to various findings and issues from the zero emission freight partnership;
• Support effective coordination and communication between the programme and other teams such as the Transport Team, Climate Action Implementation, Inclusive Climate Action, and other internal C40 teams and the programme’s donor;
• Support global project management and regional work planning and tracking, ensuring information is available, organised, easy to access and up to date;
• Work closely with the India and Latin America ZEF teams to provide strategic support to regional delivery and ensure synergy and cross-regional collaboration, whenever possible;
• Other duties as assigned.

Person Specification:
• Extensive relevant experience in Communications; English; Journalism; Marketing or other relevant fields.
• Native-level proficiency in English; ability to speak other languages a plus, especially Spanish or Portuguese;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including experience communicating complex topics to a non-technical audience through creative outputs;
• Effective communicator, highly organised, task-driven and detail-oriented to successfully plan and manage multiple tasks to deliver quality results within tight timeframes;
• Experience in implementing multifaceted communications strategies with a track record of supporting impactful campaigns and strategies for local governments or NGOs at a high level;
• Expertise on how to leverage different communications platforms and tactics to drive growth, engagement, and business plan goals;
• Working knowledge of cities and urban issues or working directly in or for municipal administrations;
• Project and partner coordination experience and track record of delivering projects in a challenging and evolving environment;
• Excellent multitasking, organisational and time-management skills, and ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

Other Requirements:

Applicants must already have the right to work in the country of the listed locations. Some travel may be required as part of the role.

Reporting To: Senior Manager of Strategic Communications and Partnerships

Term: Fixed Term Contract until 31st December 2025

Location: Johannesburg, London, Nairobi

Salary: (Grade 4) Johannesburg ZAR 715,392 , London GBP £53,243, Nairobi KSH 4,163,825

Application Process:

Closing date for applications is Wednesday 15th May at 5.00pm BST. C40 reserves the right to close this job opening before the closing date for applications so please do submit applications early.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

For any queries about the role, please contact careers@C40.org

C40 is an equal opportunities employer.