Sustainability is a primary consideration these days when stakeholders are determining which businesses to work with. That is why it’s so important for your organisation to effectively communicate through sustainable marketing on your organisation’s website about the steps you’re taking towards your ESG goals.
Stakeholders use ESG data to decide whether they wish to engage with companies or invest in them. Therefore, making sure that yours is clearly visible and accessible on your business website is crucial. Often, stakeholders will start their search for ESG data on your website before accessing your reports, so not only is transparency key to attracting the right stakeholders to your company, but clearly showcasing your achievements is also paramount. With awards like your GRESB score and GRI index highlighted on your online channels, you’ll be able to immediately show prospective stakeholders that you’re a reputable company to work with.
Create A Tailored Message For Stakeholders
Potential stakeholders need to see at a glance that your company’s sustainability goals are in alignment with their own. So, make sure that you provide a visible message tailored to what they want to know. Outline clearly your future sustainability goals and challenges, as well as the efforts you are making to improve your current position and your ongoing evaluation process.
Make Your Data Transparent
The ESG data that you showcase must be up-to-date and transparent. To that end, using a clear reporting framework is crucial to allow for easy benchmarking and to demonstrate your brand’s credibility. Using a well-known and acknowledged Reporting Framework will be beneficial to your company, and you can show it on your website as well as publish it in the form of sustainable marketing press releases via media partners.
Some of the best-known and most recognised Reporting Frameworks include:
- GRI – This reporting framework is well-known around the world that provides in-depth guidelines to enable companies to report to stakeholders on their performance with regard to sustainability. GRI standards cover a broad spectrum of ESG areas, and the framework is highly structured, allowing for easy reporting of all environmental, social, and governance data.
- SASB – The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board or SASB places its focus entirely on ESG industry-specific reporting, with standards that enable businesses to identify ESG issues that have relevance to their own sector and report on them. Investors use these standards to assess both performance and risk.
- TCFD – The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures or TCFD framework focuses on financial disclosures relating to climate and gives guidance to organisations about how to best disclose their opportunities and risks in this area within their financial reports.
- SDGs – Although the UN (United Nations) Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) aren’t, in themselves, a reporting framework, they are global goals referred to by organisations when reporting on their ESG initiatives to show that they are in line with wider sustainability objectives.
- GRESB – The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark or GRESB organisation provides transparent and actionable ESG data to the financial market, collecting, validating, scoring, and independently benchmarking this data so managers and investors alike are able to evaluate ESG performance.
Providing a summary of your company’s GRI reports on your website is one of the best ways to highlight your brand’s ESG efforts towards meeting the GRI standards. By including any visuals and infographics as well as the key metrics, you can achieve maximum impact and enable prospective stakeholders to immediately identify your commitment to your ESG goals.
Furthermore, showcasing any ESG achievements or rewards that you have achieved and providing access to your company’s full ESG reports and policies demonstrates to potential stakeholders that your brand has nothing to hide and is eager to be transparent about its efforts.
Outline Case Studies And Success Stories
A highly efficient form of sustainable marketing is to showcase some positive case studies and success stories of some of the ESG initiatives that your brand has already or is currently implementing. Actions speak louder than words, and by publishing these stories, you are clearly proving that you are truly committed to enacting positive change within your organisation towards becoming more sustainable.
Here at Elite Asia, we are experts in the field of ESG reporting and sustainable marketing, so you can rely on us to give you the guidance and information you need about terminology, principles, and best practices so you can select the most suitable framework for your business needs. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help your business with our ESG solution.
