Communicating sustainability

Today, citizens across North America point to the state of our environment as their gravest concern. They can see unwelcome changes and they are beginning to hold government and businesses accountable. That being the case, even if you are not in an industry that has traditionally been associated with environmental issues, you may soon be facing social standards and environmental expectations that seriously affect your business. In development, investor relations, labour relations and, too often, management, a thorough understanding of public attitudes about the environment is critical.

Given these concerns – and our own passion for sustainability – we launched an unprecedented Sustainability Research Initiative to help us and our clients understand effective communication in this area.

You may have heard the phrase ‘perception is reality’? It’s not quite true, but might as well be. Public perception can drive public policy. If you hope to be credible in your communications and successful in any initiative that relies on public consent, you must be responsible in the way you affect the environment and forthright in how you address that issue with the public.