"Environmental mis-steps can create public relations nightmares, destroy markets and careers, and knock billions off the value of a company," say Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston in their ground-breaking new book, Green to Gold (2006, Yale University Press).
So, what's a marketing and public relations executive to do in the face of environmental problems and related communications issues? After all, the environment, business and communities are intertwined.
Communicators can help organizations to identify and improve on the full range of corporate responsibility standards, execution and delivery. This refers to the Triple Bottom Line approach of measuring social, environmental and economic/ business/financial performance and the imperative to bridge performance and accountability gaps. Esty and Winston offer advice and company examples based on interviews and analysis that people at all organizational levels can use to tie environmental thinking into business strategy as well as communications. Theirs is a practical blueprint of short- term (up to six months), medium-term (six to 18 months) and long-term (18 months and beyond) action plans.
The short-term action plans focus on baseline analysis and environmental strategy involving such steps as:
- Audio analysis - issue spotting
- Stakeholder mapping
- Core capabilities assessment
- CEO statement of commitment
- Priority action plans
- Pilot projects
The medium-term action plans center on embedding the environmental strategy mind set and communications into company culture, by means of:
- Setting up eco-tracking and environmental management systems
- Promoting engagement and ownership
- Developing external communications and outreach
- Strengthening internal communication and education efforts
- Over-the-horizon scanning
The long-term action plans center on making the environment a core element of strategy by means of:
- Supplying chain auditing
- Rethinking products and examining markets
- Stakeholder management and partnerships
Consumer demand for green products is clearly growing. Toyota's hybrid car has consumers waiting months in purchase lines, amid rising public concern about fuel costs and energy efficient vehicles. Companies, products and cities are "green casted" and rated. Refer, for instance, to Green Peace's Guide to Greener Electronics or the EPA Energy Star program, which help identify energy- efficient practices.
In addition to consumers' wishes and increased regulations, companies face demands by NGOS, watchdogs and bloggers. Reputations can be made or broken -- Wal-Mart announced sweeping environmental goals related to energy efficiency and "green" packaging. The EPA fined GE for pollution of the Hudson River.
These days, Fortune 500 companies are increasingly working with rather than against a new breed of stakeholders, as well as the media, think tanks, academics, shareholders and customers. Companies that resist the trends may become the target of consumer environmental boycotts, negative TV ads from NGOs, or shareholder sustainability resolutions.
Pressure for disclosure on environmental risk factors is also on the rise. Companies may now flunk out with analysts and triple bottom line financial rankings such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI), which evaluate companies on their environmental, social and financial performance. Launched in 1999, these global indexes track the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.
In addition, in 2002, the Carbon Disclosure Project was launched. It provides greater transparency of the world's largest FT 500 publicly traded companies and how they engage on the climate change issue, as well as what the likely commercial implications are. The 2006 report attracted support of 225 investment institutions globally with $31 trillion in assets under management illustrating that climate change and shareholder value are inextricably linked.
PR pros trying to help companies communicate on such topics as climate change are better advised to deploy the techniques of corporate social responsibility communications. In CSR communications, you say what is and is not working ("relevancy"). You describe what needs improvement, against what comparison, and what's being done about it ("transparency"). You accurately describe the challenge and opportunity, and what the "want to be" involves ("authenticity"). As the amount of information needed will vary by audience segment (employees, mass audiences, discipline experts, commercial entities, and media), tailor messages. Avoid rhetoric and the muck of political debate.
Good technical information and facts must be cross-pollinated with awareness raising. The NEETF report tells us that environmental literacy in America is low (http://www.neetf.org/pubs/ELR2005.pdf). So you need to integrate environmental "issues" and education with integrated business and communications strategies.
Companies can no longer only "be green." They must also be "seen as green" or "going green." GfK Roper Consulting's 2003 GfK Roper Green Gauger poll tells us that 47% of Americans would do more for the environment if they only knew how. The 2005 update relays that 84% think environmental protections and economic factors need to be balanced.
Helping Americans to "know how" will become the next wave for environmental strategy, communications, and campaign messaging. It's easy to say green, but to be authentic, know your "green claims" especially with eco-labeling and CSR reports.
With the right company mind set, tools and CSR communications practices, PR and marketing professionals can help their clients and companies handle trade-offs, re-define green into superior performance, and ultimately send a new and needed message: that going green can also mean going gold. PRN
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This article was contributed by Susan Nickbarg, principal of SVN Marketing, a marketing and corporate responsibility consultancy. She can be reached a [email protected].
How To Identify Environmental Risk
| Value Chain Phase | Sample Questions to Identify Environmental Risk |
| Company Operations | How big is our environmental footprint? |
| What resources are we most dependent on (energy, water, materials), and how much do we use? | |
| What emissions do we release into the air/water? | |
| How do we dispose of waste? | |
| How up-to-date is our environmental management system? | |
| What are our chances of a spill, leak or release of hazardous waste? | |
| Have others in our industry had problems? | |
| What local, state, federal and international regulations apply to our business? Are we in full compliance? Are these requirements getting tighter? | |
| Upstream | What resources are our suppliers most dependent on? Are they abundant or constrained, now and in the near future? |
| Do our suppliers pollute? Do they meet all applicable laws? Will legal requirements get tighter for them? | |
| What substances go into the products suppliers sell to us? Are they toxic? | |
| Downstream | How much energy (or water or other resources) does our product require customers to use? |
| Are there hazardous substances to our products? | |
| What do customers do with our products when they are done with them? What would happen if we were required to take our products back? |
Source: Green to Gold, by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston (Yale University Press, 2006)