Kiilto green webinar series: Environmental communication in business: challenges and opportunities
Companies are starting to realise their climate and environmental responsibilities in an unprecedented way. Many companies want to report on their sustainable actions, but at the same time, evolving legislation is increasingly defining what can be said. So how do you communicate corporate responsibility effectively and unambiguously?
Green Claims guides truthful communication
Greenwashing is very common, even if it is not always intentional. According to an EU Commission report, more than half of environmental and climate claims are misleading or outright greenwashing. This reality prompted legislators to draft the Green Claims directive.
According to the Green Claims directive, sustainability communication must be specific and precise. All claims must be true, verified, and audited by a third party. Generic environmental claims such as environmentally friendly, biodegradable, climate-neutral, zero-emission, carbon-neutral, sustainable, responsible, ecological and green will not be allowed. These claims should no longer appear on product packaging or other communications. Furthermore, companies’ own environmental or nature claim labels or visualisations will no longer be allowed to be used, but must be approved by the EU.
A communication framework for science-based emission reduction measures
The new directive also sets strict rules for climate claims. In the future, companies will no longer be able to claim to be carbon neutral or to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits or climate units. Instead, claims should be based on the company’s knowledge of its emissions and its commitment to reducing them. Companies need to focus their efforts on the most effective climate actions, which are often linked to their supply chains.
In most cases, it is safe to use known, science-based and third-party verified emission reduction measures such as the SBTi (Scince Based Target initiative) as a reference framework. The internal price of carbon will determine the price increase of the raw materials with the highest emissions, which will automatically drive companies towards low-emission solutions.
How to communicate responsibility without the risk of greenwashing?
In future, climate claims must be based on unambiguous, verifiable facts and must be able to be reliably proven.
Remembering a few basic rules will help you to communicate successfully:
- Be honest, and mention everything that is relevant.
- Don’t exaggerate. If you are still working on something, be open about it.
- Prove your claims and provide evidence.
- Be open, welcome criticism, and offer the opportunity for more information.
Change creates equality between businesses
With tighter regulations, there is a significant and welcome change in the way companies communicate about the environment. The new regulations will put companies on a more level playing field when it comes to their environmental claims, making it easier for stakeholders and customers to compare companies’ sustainability performance and trust their communications.
Sustainability communication is not only a challenge for communications and marketing, but tightening legislation is also prompting companies to take a critical look at their core business. The CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) will in future extend beyond large companies to all companies, and the CSDDD (Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive) addresses the sustainability of companies’ value chains and climate plans. Companies will be required to develop a transition plan outlining how their business is working towards the target, which may require the development of new, more environmentally sustainable business models.
Start where you are, and focus on the big picture
Companies should start reviewing their environmental communication by taking stock of the current situation: What do we do now, and what claims do we make? Don’t get hung up on individual words, but focus on the big picture: What are the material impacts of our activities on the environment and on stakeholders? When a company provides open and honest replies to these questions, proves its claims, and learns from its mistakes, it is on a strong footing.