Why you need to communicate social and environmental issues - and do it well

‘I need proof that social and environmental issues are worth focusing on. I mean, it’s not core to what my organization does so why would we need to think strategically about them or communicate about them?’ Raise your hand if you’ve ever heard (or thought) this in relation to your employer, client, or someone else. Fortunately, this is changing rapidly, but it’s been a common response over the course of my 17-year career. I’ve focused exclusively on work that has social and environmental issues at its heart and I’ve advised business leaders on risk, run grassroots campaigns on social and environmental issues like fair trade and sustainable packaging and trained communications professionals. What I’ve learned over the years is that a) there’s still work to be done to help leaders and communications professionals understand the issues themselves and b) there are still skills to be acquired in order to communicate them well. 

When I was asked to write a book to help achieve both those aims, it just made sense to say yes. Since I began writing it, the world has rapidly changed and the timing of its publication could not be better. So I’m pleased to announce that ‘Communicating Social and Environmental Issues Effectively’ by Emerald Publishing and the UK PR Communications Association (PRCA) will be out there in the world from summer 2020. It’s part of the PRCA’s Practice Guides series and is a step-by-step framework to help those who dip into particular chapters to refine their approach, and for those who need to gain a deeper understanding of the business case for, associated risks and other areas to go through in full. It’s intentionally relevant to any sector and is a great way to truly understand the pressing case for good comms – AND good strategy – around issues as diverse as ocean plastics and #MeToo.

What’s happened over even the past two years has accelerated awareness that a diverse range of social and environmental issues are relevant to most (I’d say all) organizations in every sector. Greta Thunberg speaks truth to power about climate change and activists disrupt public transport to draw attention to climate emergency. People who would never have considered themselves activists have begun paying attention to the possibility that there’s plastic in their seafood and are trying to reduce the amount of packaging they use. 

Companies who’ve recently jumped on the #BlackLivesMatter bandwagon, publicly stating their support and then immediately coming under fire very publicly from those pointing out that their employment practices, supply chains and leadership don’t back up their claims to care about the issue. 

There are opportunities for leaders and organizations to distinguish themselves as responsible and ‘purpose-driven,’ but that also clearly carries risk, because it can be done well or done badly. The #BlackLivesMatter example above is a great illustration of ‘purposewash’ – of trying to position themselves as caring about an issue that isn’t borne out by their strategy and practice. And it highlights that someone, somewhere in the chain of command failed to spot the inconsistency between strategy and communications.

There’s no doubt that the focus of media, politics, businesses, the public and many sectors has shifted to focus on social and environmental issues as a matter of priority. But, to be frank, I’ve watched many communications professionals and leaders struggle to keep up. There is some learning and practice needed for to effectively and authentically keep pace with the trends. The other hard truth that needs to be told is that, now that some incredibly complex and nuanced social and environmental issues have hit the mainstream, it’s often communications professionals who are guilty of creating messages or marketing campaigns that are misinformed at best, misleading at worst around social and environmental credentials. This can create immediate backlash and massive reputational risk.

So building on what I’ve said thus far, the business case of communicating about some fairly tricky, complex social and environmental issues well is pretty clear, because doing it badly is risky. But what about the case for doing it at all? Isn’t it less risky to just avoid such topics, particularly if they’re not part of an organization’s core offer? This is still something I heard pretty regularly from leaders who think they don’t have time to focus on ‘side issues’ or nice-to-haves like a corporate social responsibility programme. 

Firstly, I’d say it’s worth doing something like allocating someone on your team (or doing it yourself) to track headlines and trends around social and environmental developments in your sector or with audiences who might be your clients, customers, potential students, service users or whatever is relevant.

Secondly, consider this: Edelman publish an annual ‘Trust Barometer,’ examining trends around public trust in government institutions and business. Over the past few years, the trends have been consistent: the 2017 edition showed a global implosion of public trust in the world in institutions of government, business, media and NGOs. 2018 saw no change and their report stated the importance of communications, saying ‘Silence is now deeply dangerous’ and that CEOs who speak out on trust issues, ie social and environmental ones, regained some public trust (up from 33% to 45%). Their 2019 report revealed an 11% increase in people who want CEOs to take the lead on change over issues like equal pay, sexual harassment and the environment rather than waiting for change to be regulated by government. 

Mintel, a reputable global market research provider, published a 2019 global consumer trends report for 2030. Top trends include predictions that consumers will have a greater focus on human rights, especially in developing markets; consumption of red meat will move ‘from mainstream to taboo’; consumers will be ‘looking for wellbeing across everything they do’; and there will be ‘government-led changes to water consumption.’ They predict that businesses who are ‘forces for change on important societal issues’ will be those who succeed in the next decade. More people will consider and take pride in their efforts to ensure the ethical and environmental impacts of how they consume and behave are positive. As a result, consumers will support companies (and probably other types of organisations) who help them to be more conscious and low-impact in their use of resources.

Excellent, insightful, authentic and very public leadership and communications about social and environmental issues are now expected as standard. This relates equally to companies selling products, to local authorities providing services, universities seeking to recruit and retain students and pretty much any other sector.

So if you’re still struggling to make the business case for focusing on, then communicating social and environmental issues well, there’s a lot of help to hand. It’s increasingly standard and there is a range of resources available. 

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