FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hartley Brennan Group Limited, a mid-sized provider of what its website calls “integrated operational outcomes”, is pleased to announce, with immediate effect and at some length, that it has completed its transition to a fully greenhushed communications posture. From today the company will make no public statements regarding its environmental commitments, targets, progress, or the absence of any of the foregoing.

A Landmark Moment in Not Saying Things

The decision follows a nine-month internal review, forty-one stakeholder workshops and a consultant’s report of 212 pages, which will not be published. After careful consideration of the current landscape, the board concluded that the surest way to avoid overstating its position was to stop stating it.

The company wishes to make clear that the timing of this announcement, which comes days before COP31 begins in Antalya, is a coincidence. It adds that its silence during the summit will be of the same quality and character as its silence at all other times, though it accepts that some people may be listening for it more closely.

“Hartley Brennan remains deeply committed to whatever it was committed to. We believe commitment is best expressed through a kind of dignified absence, and we are, if I may say so, extremely absent.”

Graham Whitlock, Head of Strategic Silence

Regarding the Previous Targets

The company’s earlier goals, which were at the time described internally as ambitious and externally as ambitious, will now be referred to only as “some of the numbers, from before”. The numbers remain safe. They are stored on a shared drive, in a folder that has been renamed “Misc (Old)”, beneath a second folder called “Misc”.

Hartley Brennan would like to stress that this is not a retreat. It is, in the words of the review, “a repositioning towards a lower-visibility form of intent”.

Alison Treharne, Chair of the Audit and Reputation Committee, said the options had been considered thoroughly. “We could revise the targets, or we could clarify the targets, or we could simply stop mentioning the targets,” she said. “Only the third could be done before lunch, and there was a sandwich platter.”

What Stakeholders Can Expect

Several practical changes will take effect over the coming quarter. The sustainability page of the company website will be replaced by a single grey rectangle, which the design team describes as “calm, but not unwelcoming”. The annual report will be reduced to four pages, one of which is the contents page and another of which is the back cover.

The Strategic Silence function, which began last year as a team of two, has grown to eleven, in order to ensure that nothing is said consistently across every channel. Staff have been asked not to like, share, or react to any post containing the words “net”, “zero”, “journey” or “pathway”, and to avoid describing the weather at team away days.

A dedicated Silence Line has also been established for any member of the public with questions. It will ring, play eleven seconds of hold music, and then ring again.

“We want people to feel that we are not talking to them in a way that is both open and transparent,” said Mr Whitlock. “The old model was one of constant updates, which created an expectation of further updates. The new model creates no expectations, which we have found to be the most reliable way of meeting them.”

This announcement will be the last of its kind, with the exception of a follow-up announcement confirming it, scheduled for the third quarter.

Notes to Editors

1. Hartley Brennan Group Limited is a mid-sized firm operating across a number of sectors, from a number of locations, with a number of values.

2. Please do not contact us for comment, as we will not be commenting.