As the need for clear, targeted and concise ESG messaging grows, we have outlined several key principles that can help you achieve effective communications in this area.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations are rapidly rising in importance among investors and stakeholders, a trend that makes having dedicated ESG communications crucial. Companies need to express their ESG journey clearly and convincingly – what are they doing? why are they doing it? and what do their audiences need to know about it?

If you work in communications, you should keep three key principles in mind when structuring your ESG messaging:

Ensure that ESG communications are aligned with the rest of your organisation’s communications
Build transparency and accountability into your ESG narrative by embracing information disclosure
Establish two-way communications with stakeholders

Aligning ESG communications with your organisation’s overall vision

The first step in good ESG communications is to make sure that it is not treated as separate from the vision and values of your organisation. This starts with an alignment internally of how ESG goals fit into the organisation – What issues should you focus on? Is your ESG vision in line with existing company culture and employee values?

Once the organisation has a common ESG goal, the next step is having external communications reflect this. ESG reporting should have clear metrics to show how the organisation has progressed and be strongly underpinned by consistent, omnichannel messaging (e.g. a post on social media about an initiative on diversity should reflect the same messaging on your website).

Building transparency and accountability into your narrative

Clear and consistent messaging brings us to the next principle for effective ESG communications - transparency and accountability. According to the Governance and Accountability Institute, 90% of S&P 500 companies published sustainability reports in 2019 compared to just 20% in 2011. Though sustainability disclosure is not new, there has been a significant rise in demand for companies to be transparent in their reporting as well as accountable to their stated targets and goals.

Transparency and accountability have key benefits for ESG communications:

Disclosure of ESG information will reinforce your narrative and demonstrate your progress to stakeholders.
Accountability is a way to avoid claims of greenwashing, by showing that your organisation has concrete ESG goals that you are working towards.
Trust will be built up over time in the credibility of your ESG efforts, lending weight to your future initiatives.

Establishing two-way communications with stakeholders

Lastly, your ESG communications should be two-way in that you are open to feedback from your stakeholders. Internal communications should look to engage stakeholders such as staff and board members for their thoughts on your ESG messaging. It is necessary for them to know what causes your organisation supports and why.

It’s also important to open communication with external stakeholders such as customers, investors and regulators. Take time to assess what their concerns are and what they care about in the context of ESG. This can help guide your messaging or identify areas for improvement.

We hope you find these principles useful in developing your ESG communications. If you’d like help in this regard, please contact us.

What are the principles for effective ESG communications?