The ultimate guide to effective sustainability communication for businesses

Sustainability isn't just a buzzword anymore; it's a business imperative. Customers demand it, investors scrutinize it, employees value it, and regulators increasingly mandate it (think CSRD). But simply doing sustainability work isn't enough. How you communicate your efforts is just as critical. Get it wrong, and you risk accusations of greenwashing, alienating stakeholders through greenhushing, or setting unrealistic expectations with greenwishing. Get it right, and you build trust, enhance your brand reputation, attract talent, and gain a competitive edge.

This guide is designed for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) navigating the complexities of sustainability. We'll provide pragmatic, actionable advice on developing and executing a sustainability communication strategy that is clear, credible, and effective. Our goal at Hedgehog is to bring clarity to sustainability, empowering you to communicate your performance honestly and confidently. (For a quick overview, you can also download our checklist on communicating sustainability).

What is sustainability communication? Defining the scope

Sustainability communication goes far beyond glossy marketing campaigns or annual reports tucked away on a website. It's the ongoing, transparent dialogue a company has with all its stakeholders about its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, impacts, goals, and challenges.

Effective corporate sustainability communication encompasses:

• External communication: Engaging customers, the public, media, and the wider community through websites, social media, product information, press releases, and advertising.
• Investor relations: Providing investors and financial institutions with clear, data-driven information on ESG risks, opportunities, and performance, often guided by specific frameworks.
• Internal communication: Engaging employees, fostering a sustainability culture, reporting progress, and gathering feedback.
• Supply chain communication: Collaborating with suppliers and partners on sustainability expectations, performance, and data sharing (crucial for Scope 3 reporting).
• Regulatory reporting: Meeting mandatory disclosure requirements like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the EU.
• Stakeholder engagement: Proactively listening to and addressing the concerns and expectations of various groups.

It's about weaving sustainability into the fabric of your business narrative, consistently and authentically.

The 'green traps': understanding and avoiding communication pitfalls

Navigating sustainability communication requires careful attention to avoid damaging missteps. Three key traps – greenwashing, greenhushing, and greenwishing – can severely undermine credibility. Understanding greenwashing, greenwishing, and greenhushing: what is this? is the first step towards building trust. 

Greenwashing: the danger of misleading claims

• Definition: Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers or stakeholders regarding a company's environmental practices or the environmental benefits of a product or service. It exaggerates the good while often obscuring the bad. Upcoming regulations like the EU's Green Claims Directive aim to tackle this, meaning no more greenwashing will be tolerated without substantiation.
• Common examples: Vague or unsubstantiated claims ("eco-friendly," "green"), irrelevant claims (touting a minor positive while ignoring major negative impacts), hidden trade-offs, misleading imagery, or focusing on one positive attribute while the core business remains unsustainable.
• Consequences: Loss of trust, reputational damage, legal challenges, regulatory fines, customer boycotts, employee disillusionment.
• How to avoid it:

• Accuracy & Specificity: Base claims on solid data (carbon footprints, LCAs). Avoid vague terms. Be precise about what makes a product or process sustainable.
• Transparency: Be honest about challenges and trade-offs. Don't hide negative impacts. Provide context.
• Substantiation: Back up claims with credible evidence and data. Make this data accessible.
• Third-party verification: Consider certifications or verifications from reputable bodies to add credibility. 
• Relevance: Ensure claims are material to the overall impact of the product or business.

Greenhushing: the risk of silence

• Definition: Greenhushing is the deliberate withholding or downplaying of information about a company's sustainability initiatives, often for fear of scrutiny or accusations of greenwashing.
• Why companies do it: Fear of not being perfect, lack of confidence in data, fear of activist criticism, resource constraints for robust communication.
• Significant risks: Missed opportunities (failing to attract conscious consumers or investors), lack of transparency eroding trust, hindering collective progress (if good practices aren't shared), potential perception of having something to hide. Greenhushing risks are substantial and often counterproductive.
• Why transparency is better: Builds trust over time, allows for constructive feedback, demonstrates commitment even amidst imperfection, contributes to industry-wide learning.

Greenwishing: the trap of ambition without action

• Definition: Greenwishing refers to setting ambitious sustainability goals or making optimistic claims without credible plans, sufficient resources, or realistic pathways to achieve them. It's communicating aspirations as if they are achievements.
• Linking communication to reality: Communication must reflect actual performance and concrete plans. Avoid announcing bold targets without detailing how they will be met.
• Importance of credible targets: Goals need to be grounded in reality and backed by strategy. Setting Science-Based Targets (SBTs) provides a credible framework for climate action goals, ensuring they align with climate science.
• Avoiding the pitfall: Focus communication on progress made, challenges encountered, and the concrete steps being taken towards goals, rather than just the goals themselves. Ensure your sustainability messaging is grounded in your actual carbon reduction strategy.

Principles of effective and credible sustainability communication

To navigate these traps and build trust, adhere to these core principles:

1. Transparency: Be open and honest about performance, both positive and negative. Disclose methodologies and data sources.
2. Accuracy: Ensure all claims are factually correct, precise, and supported by robust evidence (e.g., data from your carbon accounting).
3. Honesty: Avoid exaggeration, misleading statements, or omitting crucial context. Acknowledge challenges and uncertainties.
4. Consistency: Ensure messaging is consistent across all platforms and aligns with overall business strategy and actions.
5. Materiality: Focus communication on the sustainability issues most relevant and significant to your business and stakeholders.
6. Comparability: Where possible, present data in a way that allows for comparison over time and potentially against industry benchmarks.
7. Clarity: Use clear, understandable language. Avoid jargon where possible or explain it carefully. Make information easy to find and digest.
8. Timeliness: Communicate relevant information promptly, especially regarding significant impacts or progress updates.
9. Accessibility: Make sustainability information readily available to all interested stakeholders through appropriate channels.

Developing your sustainability communication strategy

A strategic approach is essential for effective communication.

1. Identify your audience(s): Who are you trying to reach? Investors, customers, employees, regulators (CSRD requirements), suppliers, local communities? Each group has different interests and information needs.
2. Define key messages and objectives: What do you want each audience to know? What action (if any) do you want them to take? Align messages with your actual sustainability performance, goals, and overall business strategy. Ensure objectives are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound).
3. Choose the right channels: Select channels appropriate for each audience and message. This could include:

• Sustainability/ESG reports (digital or print)
• Dedicated website section
• Blog posts and articles (like this one!)
• Social media updates
• Product labels and packaging
• Internal newsletters and meetings
• Investor presentations
• Press releases

4. Integrate data and evidence: Credibility hinges on data. Link communication back to your sustainability measurement efforts, such as:

• Carbon footprint analysis (corporate or product level)
• Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs)
• Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
• Energy and resource consumption data
• Waste reduction metrics
• Social impact data
• Progress against targets (e.g., SBTs)
• Information required for CSRD compliance

Key elements of impactful communication

Beyond strategy, focus on these elements for resonance:

• Data-backed claims and metrics: Numbers speak volumes. Quantify impacts and progress whenever possible (e.g., "Reduced Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 15% year-on-year," "Sourced 50% renewable electricity"). This requires solid carbon accounting. Learn how to communicate your sustainable progress effectively using data.
• Authentic storytelling: Share your sustainability journey – the motivations, challenges, successes, and lessons learned. Humanize your efforts. Feature employee initiatives or supplier collaborations. Remember to communicate effectively about sustainability: start with a good story. 
• Visualisation of data: Use charts, graphs, and infographics to make complex data more accessible and engaging.
• Leveraging reporting frameworks: Use established frameworks like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards or the structure required by CSRD/ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) to guide your reporting and communication, ensuring comprehensiveness and comparability.

Communicating specific sustainability topics

Tailor your communication approach based on the topic:

• Carbon footprint results: Clearly explain scope (1, 2, 3), methodology (e.g., GHG Protocol), key emission sources, and year-on-year changes. Link to your carbon footprint consulting efforts if applicable.
• Reduction targets & climate action: Detail your targets (e.g., SBTs), the strategies to achieve them (carbon reduction plans), and report progress regularly.
• Circular economy initiatives: Explain how you are designing out waste, keeping materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
• Social aspects: Communicate efforts related to fair labor practices, diversity and inclusion, community engagement, and health and safety.
• Product sustainability: Use LCAs or PCFs to communicate the environmental footprint of specific products, often via EPDs or labels. (Hedgehog offers LCA consulting for start-ups and broader LCA consulting).

Tailoring communication for different stakeholders

• Investors: Focus on financial materiality, ESG risks and opportunities, governance, alignment with frameworks (TCFD, CSRD), long-term value creation, and data reliability.
• Customers: Highlight product benefits, brand values, ethical sourcing, environmental impact (often simplified), transparency, and how choices make a difference. Use clear labels and accessible website information.
• Employees: Emphasize company values, purpose, individual contribution, progress updates, training opportunities, and internal initiatives. Foster pride and engagement.
• Regulators: Provide accurate, complete, and timely data according to specific requirements (e.g., CSRD/ESRS). Focus on compliance and methodology.
• Suppliers: Communicate expectations, collaboration opportunities, data requirements (especially for Scope 3), and shared goals.

The role of technology and tools

Managing sustainability data and streamlining communication can be challenging, especially for SMEs. Technology plays a crucial role. Tools like the Hedgehog Carbon platform help businesses measure their carbon footprint accurately (Scope 1, 2, and 3), track progress against targets, and generate the data needed for credible transparent sustainability reporting and communication. Having a centralized platform ensures data consistency and provides the evidence required to back up your claims confidently. Visit the Hedgehog Carbon Platform page to learn more.

Conclusion: building trust through clarity in sustainability

Effective sustainability communication is not about perfection; it's about progress, transparency, and honesty. In an era of heightened scrutiny and expectation, businesses that communicate clearly and credibly about their sustainability journey – including the challenges – will build stronger relationships with stakeholders, enhance their reputation, and ultimately, thrive.

By understanding the pitfalls of greenwashing, greenhushing, and greenwishing, adhering to principles of credibility, and developing a thoughtful sustainability communication strategy grounded in solid data, your business can navigate this complex landscape successfully. Remember, clarity in sustainability communication is key to building lasting trust.

Explore our related guides for deeper insights into specific areas, or learn how Hedgehog's consulting services and Carbon platform can provide the data and expertise you need for confident communication.