Take 5 - Sustainability Reporting With Barb Brown

By Paris Wolfe

Learn more about Strategies and Tactics for Communicating Sustainability and Green Messages from Barb O’Brien Brown, Principal and Co-Owner, BrownFlynn, during IABC Cleveland’s March 20 lunch program. BrownFlynn is a sustainability and corporate social responsibility consulting firm.  They advise organizations on how to integrate responsible practices into their strategies, communicate these practices internally and externally for bottom-line impact, and provide training to build skills and engage associates.

 Q. What is corporate sustainability?

A. Most companies reference the U.N. Brundtland Report’s definition, “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”  However, language in this space is often confusing and, at times, defined differently from company to company.  For instance, some companies use the word ‘sustainability’ to refer only to their environmental impacts.  Others describe sustainability as the ‘triple bottom line’ or ‘people, planet and prosperity’ and consider sustainability to encompass their environmental, social and economic impacts.  Regardless of how a company defines it, we advise clients to be sure there is internal buy-in and understanding of the definition and that they clearly state the definition they use to ensure all stakeholders understand. 

Q. Why is sustainability reporting important?

A. Sustainability reporting is most effective when used as a management process.  Done properly, reporting leads to the identification of environmental, social, economic, and, often, governance issues, needing management.  The result can mean cost savings, top-line revenue through product or service innovation, improved internal engagement and stakeholder relations, access to capital and enhanced reputation.

  Unlike traditional financial reporting, where the primary audience are shareholders, a sustainability report targets multiple audiences—employees, customers, suppliers, non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups, civil society AND shareholders.  This complexity requires the company not only identify its stakeholders, but to engage with them to better understand how the company impacts its stakeholders and, in turn, how stakeholders impact the company.  The results of this engagement inform what environmental, social, economic and governance issues are material sustainability issues for the company to prioritize and manage.  This not only drives report content, but, more importantly, what goals the company should set, when targets will be achieved and who is accountable for measuring, managing and, ultimately, achieving them.

  Sustainability reporting is becoming table stakes for companies to be in business.  Their stakeholders expected them to be transparent and are being held accountable by investors, customers, employees and civil society for their social and environmental performance.

Q. Why does it fall in the communication function?

A. While the responsibility for a company’s sustainability report sometimes falls within the communications function, ownership of the report may fall elsewhere.  Many companies have sustainability departments or turn to their environment, health and safety (EH&S) function to manage sustainability.  Regardless, involving the communications function is essential.  The report process generally involves a cross-functional team contributing to the overall strategy, messaging, data collection and report roll out.  The team can include representatives from lines of businesses, sales and marketing, human resources, legal, EH&S, procurement as well as communications.  Ensuring the report is aligned with the company’s brand, reflects its culture, is written and designed well, and distributed to stakeholders is where the communications function can add great value.

Q. What vehicles can be used to communicate sustainability?

A. There are no limits to the vehicles you can use to communicate sustainability.  Use all vehicles at your disposal and in line with the financial and human resources you have to dedicate to it. From recruiting and orienting new employees to social media and product labeling, all vehicles can be used to reinforce a truly authentic sustainability message.  When producing a sustainability report, using a recognized reporting framework such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provides the readers a standard from which to compare your company’s report to others.  It also demonstrates your company understanding of best practices.  Much of the information gathered for a GRI report can be leveraged for investor and customer supplier surveys, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) or the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Q. What audiences do you try to reach with sustainability messages?

A. As mentioned earlier, BrownFlynn recommends going through a stakeholder identification process to determine who the company impacts and who impacts the company.  From there, we recommend companies prioritize stakeholders into tiers and also get feedback on how best to increase the opportunity for dialogue between stakeholders.  Some topics may be of more interest to one stakeholder than another.  For reporting, a tool such as ‘build your own report’ might be useful for stakeholders to pull the information that is most meaningful to them, or, in social media, you may want to use hashtags or hold an online twitter session to share and receive information. 

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Networking for the March 20 program begins at 11:30 a.m. The program runs from noon – 1:30pm. It will be held on the second floor of the Cleveland State University School of Business, 1860 E 18th St. #220, Cleveland, OH 44114. The cost, which includes your choice of boxed lunch, will be $10 for IABC members, students, and professionals-in-transition, and $15 for non-members. Parking includes on-street meters, surface lots nearby, and RTA lines that stop near the business school. Register now.