Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It’s a modern-day quandary. Ignore climate change and environmental causes at your PR peril.  Yet one misjudged step delivers serious reputational risk. 

You know the story.  Your company fanfares a sustainable initiative.  Perhaps, clothing made from recycled yarns or fuels made from used cooking oil. Perhaps, commitments to net-zero emissions by 2050.

And then, your ideas are picked apart.  They are labelled token gestures, distracting from larger climate responsibilities.

You are not really committed to stopping global warming, stakeholders chime.  You’re greenwashing; attempting to pull the wool over consumers’ eyes while business continues as usual.

Activists – and by extension consumers – are unforgiving.  Last month, an international energy company clashed with environmental campaigners over claims made about the emission-reducing potential of its algal biofuels.  The company allegedly spends about $30m a year on biofuels, while it’s “environmental marketing” costs about $56m annually.

Regulators too, are relentless.  In Germany, an asset manager was forced to drop a “carbon calculator” used to market one of its funds.  The calculator, which showed the potential carbon-emission reductions of an investment in the fund, was based on estimates, not concrete data.  Despite this information being available to customers, one consumer protection agency still objected.

In France, meanwhile, greenwashing can be costly.  Under recently introduced sanctions, you can be fined up to 80% of the cost of a marketing campaign and forced to issue apologies and corrections.

Paralysis is understandable, decisions daunting, but standing still and shirking climate-focused initiatives is not an option.  So, what do you do?

Be truthful, be transparent and be realistic.

Recognising and communicating an environmental initiative as part of a longer process – rather than a ‘one-and-done’ step – helps your customers understand the challenges surrounding sustainability.

Rather than accompanying environmental programmes or emissions targets with fanfare, present them with caveats, context and honesty.

And, as we frequently advise, report progress not perfection.  Even if this means presenting stakeholders with data that shows there is still a long way to go to meet sustainability goals.

Importantly, climate initiatives should be undertaken because they make a difference.  It is the right thing to do.  More than a decade ago, the Harvard Business Review wrote: “An honest green story starts from inside the company, not from a marketing idea that you then try to spin”.  This still holds true.

Activists, customers and employees rightly, persistently, seek accountability.  They will analyse and deconstruct your climate policies.  Regulators will persevere and produce more hoops to jump through to eradicate greenwashing.

These can be good things.  See the yardstick and seize the opportunity to demonstrate how your business is moving in exactly the right direction.