Supercharge environmental sustainability comms at your organisation
Supercharge environmental sustainability comms at your organisation
Jess Payne, internal communications officer at Jisc, explains how a workplace screening of People’s Emergency Briefing film can serve as a jumping-off point for discussing your organisation’s approach to sustainability comms.
The timing wasn’t deliberate, because who knew we’d have the summer we’ve just had? (Except perhaps climate scientists warning of the increasing impacts of the climate crisis.)
The 50-minute film, fronted by Chris Packham and including guests Jennifer Saunders, Deborah Meaden and Konnie Huq, is a highlight reel: nine subject matter experts and their view on how the climate crisis is affecting their area of expertise.
It’s a growing national campaign with over 3,900 screenings already shown or planned. It’s increasingly international too.
One channel to broaden the film’s reach and impact is through workplace screenings.
Improving organisational risk and resilience
How would your CEO, exec team and any decision-makers react if they knew they were basing strategic and financial decisions on old information?
This is increasingly the case when it comes to environmental sustainability and the impacts of the climate crisis on businesses specifically.
There is growing recognition of moving trends in green skills, greenhushing and climate risk ownership within organisations. Beyond this, internal communicators can influence a change in environmental sustainability positioning: moving from emissions and macro trends to organisational risk and resilience that supports your organisation’s strategic goals and a thriving planet.
Shifting the sustainability narrative
Shifting the narrative could mean having conversations with teams and shaping internal messages that support risk and resilience positioning around environmental sustainability. For example, getting in touch and sharing people-based stories from:
your HR team – what is the impact of extreme weather, such as extended heatwaves or localised flooding, on your workforce? What’s the knock-on effect of school closures or transport disruption on employees’ ability to work? What wellbeing, productivity and absence impacts do they need to consider in the context of climate change? How might the impacts disproportionately affect certain groups? What colleague stories highlight this?
your procurement team – how resilient are your organisational supply chains to the knock-on effects of climate change? What climate risks are you overlooking or could you be mitigating with a clearer view of climate impacts affecting your business and the businesses supplying you? What changes have the team made in this context you could share?
your estates and facilities team – are your buildings equipped for a changing climate? Is there an increased risk of flood, or wildfire impacts local to offices, warehouses, retail outlets or business infrastructure? Are your buildings equipped for extreme heat, water, wind or cold? Are they accessible in those conditions? How could you bring in addressing these concerns to operational decisions and messages?
Your product teams – what impact will climate change have on your customers and their ability to access your products and services? How might it affect future pricing strategies? What could you do to adapt to remain competitive in a changing environment? What stories are there from your product and insights teams around this and how it’s shaping future product strategies?
Having these conversations and surfacing these stories will move your positioning of environmental sustainability away from sometimes dry emissions reporting to strategically significant and people-based stories. It also helps teams understand how they can contribute to environmental sustainability outside of the sustainability team!
Screening the People’s Emergency Briefing
One way to get everyone on the same page with up-to-date information is through a workplace screening of the People’s Emergency Briefing. It gives everyone access to the same, top-of-class climate science as a basis for better conversations about climate risk and resilience.
The head of estates and director of procurement and supplier management at my organisation both found the screening incredibly eye-opening. All colleagues who attended (and replied to the post-event survey) said they found the screening valuable.
It’s really, really good!
There’s plenty you can do to support your organisation’s long-term goals, and a thriving planet. Whether that’s hosting a workplace screening or talking about environmental sustainability as a matter of strategic risk and resilience, the important part is being clear about the impacts of the climate crisis at work and bringing those stories to life!
Keep your eyes peeled for further news from IOIC about a dedicated screening of the film for members.
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Despite some countries opting to row back on sustainability and emission targets, global climate anxiety remains rife. This impacts the capacity of people to work well and undermines organisational performance. More acutely, climate activism is on the rise and no brand is exempt from increased scrutiny.
Keeping colleagues informed of sustainability goals, initiatives and progress presents a key opportunity for internal communicators. In this way, workplace activism can be harnessed for accelerated climate progress and business transformation. Our quarterly sustainability updates help internal communication professionals stay informed and think more expansively about ways they can deliver strategic value.
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Your answers will directly shape how the profession invests in its own development.
