ESG copywriting: A practical guide
In the last few years, ESG has gone from just another inscrutable acronym to a concept at the forefront of the business agenda. With this shift has come a parallel increase in the importance of communicating ESG effectively.
The management of environmental, social and governance goals covers a multitude of loosely related topics, from climate change, sustainable energy and Net Zero to people practices and community responsibility.
It’s complex stuff, nuanced and easily obscured. Greenwashing is common and, in response, some companies have retreated into greenhushing. That’s why it’s important for organisations to be clear on their ESG strategy and, moreso, to communicate it effectively. And that’s why ESG copywriting is essential.
TL:DR
What is ESG copywriting?
The benefits of effective ESG comms
Tips for effectively communicating ESG and impact
Common mistakes in communicating ESG
Communication challenges in the ethics and sustainability space
How we demonstrate our ESG principles at RH&Co
Our ESG copywriting services
Looking for an ESG-focused copywriting agency?
What is ESG copywriting?
ESG copywriting is the strategic approach to articulating and communicating a company’s position on environmental, social and governance issues. This might include its ESG structures, values, policies and behaviours, the impact they’re having and the data that backs it up.
At the brand level, ESG copywriting may articulate a company’s core value proposition or positioning through ESG messaging frameworks and brand narrative creation. It can also cover a range of content formats, from full ESG campaigns to impact reports, thought leadership and opinion pieces, and even sustainable product guides.
The benefits of effective ESG comms
Communicating ESG effectively has many benefits, ranging from supporting risk management on the one end of the scale to increased brand reputation on the other.
Increasing brand reputation
Not only can effective communication mitigate risk, it can actively improve your brand reputation by highlighting ESG efforts in an authentic and transparent way. By being clear on what you stand for and demonstrating impact, ESG can become a core part of your value proposition.
Earning customer loyalty
Increasingly sophisticated customers – both consumers and corporate buyers – are demanding more from those they spend their money with. In B2B, procurement is under increasing pressure to factor sustainability criteria into decision-making, and many tenders now mandate inclusion of these.
Attracting and retaining employees
Today’s job seekers are looking for a company with a purpose that aligns with their own. Having authentic, clearly defined and consistently communicated mission, vision and values in place helps create an effective employer brand that has a positive impact on attraction and retention of today’s talent.
Attracting investors
When making investment decisions, investors are increasingly considering ESG factors, with around 85% say it’s an important factor in investment decisions, according to McKinsey.* This is not just about values alignment but about the fact that companies that focus on ESG often perform better* and are therefore less risky as an investment choice.
Supporting risk management
Regulation and legislation are increasingly upping standards not only on ESG activity itself but on reporting of that activity. Clear communication can help avoid penalties, as well as sidestepping reputational damage and accusations of greenwashing.
Tips for effectively communicating ESG and impact
Start with a strategy
Just as any brand building campaign needs to begin with strategy, so does an ESG communications project. At the basic level, you need to understand what you want to say and to whom, but there are all sorts of other factors to take into account, from what your competitors are saying to how regulation or legislation might dictate or limit what you say.
Create a plan for consistency
Again, any brand-building activity needs to be consistent over the medium to long term, and ESG is no different. Consider how often you’ll be sharing information and on what channels, creating a plan that includes who is responsible for the project and which stakeholders – internal and external – will need to be involved.
Common mistakes in communicating ESG
The most common mistakes we see in companies communicating their ESG credentials are overstating their impact, not backing up their claims, or positioning themselves around their values when there’s a more impactful value proposition available.
Overstating impact
If a brand’s focus is on ESG communication rather than ESG action and impact, the whole exercise becomes tokenistic – and people will notice. While all efforts to support the planet and its people should be celebrated, ESG should be an operational effort before it is a marketing one.
Not backing up claims
Whether you’re claiming to support your local community, use only sustainable materials, or reduce carbon emissions, you need tangible data to back this up. ESG copywriting plays an important role in communicating impact effectively, making data digestible and ensuring there’s no room for accusations of greenwashing.
ESG as a value proposition
If your business or organisation exists to serve a need, then ESG may be something that should feature in your core brand value proposition. However, more often than not, it’s not enough of a differentiator – and there is a very good chance your audience cares more about the quality of your product or service and the value you can add.
Communication challenges in the ethics and sustainability space
Using words like green, sustainable or purpose-driven isn’t enough anymore. The combination of growing awareness of the benefits of ESG practice for business and growing cynicism from audiences across the board, has created challenges including greenwashing, noise and the need to demonstrate impact.
Greenwashing / hushing
When you communicate about values, you put yourself at risk of accusations of greenwashing unless you have a robust strategy in place. On the flipside, many companies respond to this by engaging in ‘greenhushing’ – avoiding talking about their impact for fear of backlash.
Increased noise and cynicism
As more organisations shift their focus to sustainability as a benefit, competition in the ESG space is increasing, making it harder to stand out. Audiences are also more cynical now, and want a higher level of proof before they will believe green or ethical claims.
Need for impact
With increased scrutiny on ESG reporting it’s essential to communicate results and to demonstrate impact with transparency and authenticity. This reporting needs to contain enough data-based evidence to be convincing, while remaining engaging to a range of stakeholders.
How we demonstrate our ESG principles at RH&Co
As a B Corp certified copywriting agency, RH&Co is a proud believer in doing “business as unusual”. Our mission is to build a market-leading agency that demonstrates triple bottom line business practices, delivers tangible results for our clients, and is a great place to work.
As well as being a certified B Corporation, we are also a Real Living Wage employer and signatories of Bristol’s Women in Business Charter. We have taken the Green Pensions Pledge and completed the Small Business Sustainability Basics Programme.
We’re conscious that none of this makes us anything near perfect – we’re just taking as many small steps as we can towards being a better business tomorrow than we were yesterday. Visit our B Corp and impact page for more about how we put our principles into action, including our latest impact report, and our tips on how to become a B Corp as a small business.
Our sustainability and ESG copywriting services
At Rin Hamburgh & Co, we not only have our own core values around ESG, we’ve also worked with clients ranging from SMEs to multinationals, to help them articulate and demonstrate their credentials around environmental and social sustainability and justice.
Some of these organisations work directly within the ESG sector, such as the Social Enterpriese World Forum, the Global Mangrove Alliance, GENeco and the Land App. Others – like Davines, The Discourse and BaseKit – are fellow B Corps. And still others are businesses doing their best, on a variety of levels, to move towards a more sustainable way of doing business.
