Four Step Guide To Effective Sustainability Communications

Knowing how to communicate your Net Zero and sustainability journey effectively can add real value for your business, both reputationally and strategically.

By sharing your challenges as well as your successes, you’ll build trust and credibility in the eyes of your stakeholders. And when you can incorporate sustainability messaging throughout your communications you will unlock wider external engagement on your sustainability journey.

Successful communication starts with a comprehensive plan. It gives structure to your goals by outlining where you want to be and how you plan to get there.

There are four main areas that must be addressed to improve your external engagement to communicate your organisation’s sustainability journey: define your objectives, identify your audience, develop your purpose, and communicate your story. By addressing these issues, you will be able to tell your sustainability story in a transparent, engaging, and meaningful manner. 

Define Your Objectives

Start by defining what you hope to accomplish with your sustainability story. Your communications goals must be consistent with the maturity of your company’s sustainability approach, and your story must accurately reflect your performance. 

Identify Your Audience

Define your most important internal and external stakeholder groups. Concentrate on who you’re attempting to reach. To create compelling messages that people will respond to, you must understand who you are attempting to reach.

Develop Your Purpose

Develop the purpose of your organisation and focus on how your organisation will incorporate sustainability into its operations and how closely it is related to your business strategy. By developing your purpose, you could form the basis of your sustainability story.

Communicate Your Story

Consider the communication channels available to get your story out there, as well as how these channels can support each other. To share a consistent message with everyone you reach, incorporate the theme of your sustainability story throughout all of your communications.