Our stories are as important as our strategies when it comes to advancing environmental, social and governance (ESG) within companies and society-wide. While some think of "storytelling" as being inherently braggadocious, superfluous or even disingenuous, to tell stories is to be human. Since the beginning of humanity, people have told stories to transfer knowledge, coordinate group behavior and facilitate collective action. A good story can change the world — or prevent it from changing.

然而，许多组织都在努力有效地交流ESG。有些人在ESG旅程的早期，渴望进行交流 - 但不知道从哪里开始。其他人则走得更远，但面临着制作正确消息的困难。而且仍然有些人回避完全沟通ESG。

可以肯定的是：即使目前仍然是自愿的，交流ESG也不再是可选的。以及美国证券交易委员会（SEC）很快可能需要ESG披露from publicly traded firms, companies that act to improve their ESG communication will be ahead of the curve.

But talking about ESG remains difficult — we’re dealing with some of the world’s most complex challenges in a time when misinformation, polarization and oversimplification reign supreme. At GreenBiz 22, I explored how companies can do a better job communicating ESG.

通过分享失败而获得成功

Embracing ESG means assuming a growth mindset — acknowledging and disclosing your organization’s missteps and setbacks along with the wins — and remaining true to this across all of your communications.

“一致性和真实性在讲述您的ESG故事时都是重要的北极星，” ESG战略副总裁，在我的Greenbiz 22小组讨论中对Salesforce的影响力副总裁Sunya Norman说。“无论您的听众在社交媒体上找到您还是阅读您的ESG报告，他们都应该觉得自己与同一公司的声音和价值观互动。”

这符合我在自己作为记者和ESG顾问的工作中所看到的。根据定义，真实性意味着表现出美丽和瑕疵。对于那些在企业沟通的经典模型中培养的人来说，这并不容易 - 该公司的重点是强调公司的成功并轻描淡写其失败。

Sustainability is an ideal toward which companies strive — not a state of being. Organizations can be more sustainable, or less so, but never achieve paragon status. And that’s OK. With this in mind, the best ESG communication is rooted in courageous vulnerability.

“这是关于进步，而不是完美的，”小组中Genatoma可持续发展负责人Sasha Calder说。竞彩足球app怎么下载

不要总是以ESG领先

尽管ESG可能有鼎盛时期，但这个概念仍然是利基市场，并且在公司可持续性之外的大多数人，投资者或分析师圈子不熟悉缩写。竞彩足球app怎么下载这意味着在传达ESG时，您并不总是需要使用ESG领导。

One key takeaway from the panel was that sometimes it's not critical for an audience to understand the jargon or technical specifics completely — it's more important that they have an emotional response and walk away knowing the company cares in a genuine way about whatever ESG issue is being communicated. This is doubly true for general and employee audiences.

小组期间，Clif Bar＆Company Impact and Communication高级副总裁Roma McCaig说：“与他们所处的观众见面是关键，并使用与他们联系至关重要的语言。”

尽管报告仍然不完美，但如果做得正确，它可能是将ESG进度传达给投资者，评估者和其他数据驱动的利益相关者的有效媒介。

"Our employees would not connect with the term ‘ESG’ but they do understand our Five Aspirations, which are the business values that define our business model and guide our decision making to drive impact." Clif Bar chose the word "aspiration" in recognition that the company is on a journey to challenge itself and the status quo — always reaffirming that it is in business to be a force for good. This is a great example of company embracing ESG as a journey versus a destination.

"Always keep in mind a human is on the other side of the table and emphasize conscience, clarity and connection," McCaig said.

有效ESG通信的交付机制

For many folks, thoughts about ESG communication conjure images of PDFs packed with everything from metrics to feel-good stories. There’s little question that ESG reporting is on the rise. In 2020, 92 percent of S&P 500 Companies and 70 percent of Russell 1000 Companiespublishedsustainability reports. In my own experience, over the past two years the number of new companies reaching out asking for assistance with their first ESG reports has increased exponentially.

尽管报告仍然不完美，但如果做得正确，它可能是将ESG进度传达给投资者，评估者和其他数据驱动的利益相关者的有效媒介。她补充说，在发布数据时，重要的是要把好东西纳入不良情况。竞彩足球app怎么下载

Aligning these reports to leading frameworks such as GRI, SASB and TCFD also adds credibility to your ESG reports.

“领先的公司可以最好地传达他们通过通过CDP报告，努力获得A等级以及利用减少排放机会并节省成本的供应链，通过使用CDP收集排放和能源效率数据来体现ESG最佳实践。CDP的创始人兼主席保罗·迪金森（Paul Dickinson）在格林比斯（Greenbiz）的午餐聊天中告诉我。

But reporting isn’t the only way to deliver ESG information to stakeholders. Indeed, trying to engage all audiences with reports leads to massive, complex documents that make everyone miserable.

海勒说，在花旗上，尽管该报告被用作ESG信息的“真实来源”，但他们将其补充了其他沟通媒介，对不同的利益相关者更有趣。花旗有一个ESG网站，该网站将主题分解为一口大小的内容。例如，如果客户概述了花旗的网站，他们可以轻松找到有关公司气候风险或人权工作的内容。

有史以来最伟大的故事

While we more or less already have the means and know-how to address many of the world’s ESG challenges, what we lack is the ability to take collective action at scale. We won’t be successful in addressing the climate crisis and other pressing problems if we can’t do a better job communicating them. Before we can get people to act, we need them to care — and storytelling is the best way to move them.

我们都是有史以来最伟大的ESG故事的一部分，这取决于我们确定它的结局。