CEBDS launches publication aimed at journalists, advertisers and communication and marketing professionals on the basics of sustainability
The Covid-19 pandemic is demanding that organizations respond quickly, provide new solutions and approach their businesses in a systemic way. At the same time, it is demanding that communication and marketing professionals take a closer look at combating distorted or misleading information; use common sense to avoid marketing appeals in light of society’s real vulnerability; and use a more humanized way of communicating, with purpose and focus. Society is demanding even more coherence between discourse and practice, according to the new CEBDS Communication and Sustainability Guide, launched today (06/08/2020) by the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) and now available free of charge to download on the organization's website.
“Managing an organization’s reputation is a plural and systemic task that translates into the institutions’ trust and reliability rates; it requires thinking about the multiplicity of actors involved and the maturation of expectations,” says Kelly Lima, Communications Manager at CEBDS.
The Guide is structured around three pillars: Sustainability Communication, Communication for Sustainability and Sustainability of Communication. Sustainability Communication is the communication that gives visibility to the sustainable actions and practices that the company develops. “When sustainability is part of the company’s culture, it is considered in decision-making and communicated beyond the traditional sustainability reporting pieces,” explains Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS.
Communication for Sustainability helps transform models, contributing to sustainable development. “Both need to be sustainable or they risk becoming unbelievable,” adds Kelly. And Sustainability in Communication is achieved through transparent, ethical communication and management processes based on easily verifiable information.
Collaborative and plural process
The result of a collaborative and plural process carried out over two years (2018/2019), the publication interviewed more than 150 professionals, including consultants, journalists, professors and professionals specializing in sustainability and corporate communication. When asked what score they would give, on a scale of 0 to 100, to how much they believe in companies' sustainability narratives, the journalists who responded to the survey gave an average score of 43.
Transparency of data and information – especially regarding negative impacts and risks in their operations – was the attribute they indicated as having the greatest weight in lending credibility to narratives, followed by promoting dialogue with stakeholders. Companies have difficulty communicating their actions for and towards sustainability in a practical, systematic and cliché-free way.
Sustainability coverage in the Brazilian media is still very limited to specialized media outlets, except when disasters occur. The publication indicates that Sustainability Reports are rarely accessed and are not achieving their goal of communicating with the media and society. Journalists who are not specialized in sustainability coverage are unaware of the wealth of data contained in these corporate reports. And even specialized journalists make little use of this data.
Second edition
This is the second edition of the Communication and Sustainability Guide – which also features a chapter on fake news, including tips to minimize its effects – and updates the first, launched in 2009, when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched by the UN in 2015, and the Paris Agreement had not yet been defined.
The Communication and Sustainability Guide is sponsored by Toyota, BRK Ambiental, CBA, Diversa, Ecolab, Heineken, Michelin, Eletrobras and the Federal Government, and supported by Aberje, Agência Lupa, Projeto Colabora and WayCarbon.
