Sustainability communications are a must, not an option

COP28 will be held this November – the second consecutive meeting to be held in the Arab world. It’s also when the UN will publish its ‘global stocktake’, a ‘study on the shoulders of giants’. Without pre-empting the conclusions, it isn’t likely to be pretty – and quite possibly, no one nation state will be on track. This climate stress test will, however, provide a blueprint of how we need to course correct, and what needs to be done to achieve net zero. 

While nation-states have a critical role to play, COP28, hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will also recognise the key role of the private sector.  

McKinsey reports that 90 per cent of S&P 500 companies now publish Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reports and around 5,000 companies have made net-zero commitments as part of the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign. Sadly, this also means that many companies haven’t yet started, or are only at the early stages of the journey. And it’s here where public relations practitioners can act as a catalyst for change.

Here are our top ten steps to advise companies to begin reporting on ESG. 

1. Don’t be daunted. Be committed to the endpoint but don’t let the sheer scale overwhelm you – and don’t use this as an excuse not to start. Break it down into phases and different components and focus on delivering each. Let measurement define the path and use results to communicate the journey transparently.
    
2. Know your organisation. Do more than just focus on your core operations; look at the whole business from sales to distribution to production to decommissioning. Work closely with your colleagues from across your organisation to understand the full extent of your business operations.
    
3. Be open and transparent. Discussing what you haven’t done is just as important as what you’re doing. This will also steer you away from ‘greenwashing’.
    
4. Measurement. Acknowledge your current position using measurement and to illustrate your trajectory together with the milestones you reach along the way.
    
5. Reputation Management. Your communications plan must include sustainability. If it’s absent, your reputation is exposed and your organisation is vulnerable.
    
6. Have an opinion. You must communicate and have a point of view regardless of the stage of your journey to net zero. If you don’t have an opinion, you risk ‘greenhushing’. 
    
7. Communications principles apply. Sustainability communications are no different to any other type of communication: they must be honest, open and transparent. As practitioners, it’s our role to translate jargon and technical terms to aid stakeholder comprehension of our organisation's position. 
    
8. The path will change. We’ll learn more as the journey progresses, and technology advances and measurement criteria evolve. You may have to change direction entirely and will need to communicate the steps you’re taking and the reasons why.
    
9. The broader picture. You’re not taking this journey alone. Your products and service will engender behaviours in others. Use communications to help your consumers make informed decisions that support their steps to net zero. Our impact on the environment is much broader than our core business functions.
    
10. Take your seat at the decision-making table. As communications practitioners, your knowledge of stakeholders and their behaviour is invaluable to the strategy-setting process. Take your seat at the table and make sure you represent those stakeholders.

Let us, as practitioners, continue to make a difference to the organisations we advise, ensuring we act as a strategic management function while helping to contribute to a low-carbon world. 

Elizabeth Maclean and Mike Evans are co-founders and co-managing directors of Herdwick Communications.