Responsible communication
To meet the expectations of their customers, employees, investors and the general public, companies and organisations need to communicate their impact on the climate and their actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It is also essential to communicate in a way that avoids ‘greenwashing’ (misleading environmental claims), which presents reputational, financial and legal risks. On this web page, the MTE will regularly provide you with additional resources on this subject, which is more topical than ever.
Celsa conference
Presentation of the conference organised by Celsa Alumni Sorbonne Université on 10 November 2023 at the International University of Monaco - Speaker : Assaël ADARY, co-founder and CEO of the French communications research and consultancy firm ‘Occurrence’, President of the Celsa Alumni Sorbonne University association and author of several books including ‘Responsible communication and marketing: Issues and practices in a sector undergoing revolution’.
Assaël ADARY explains the challenges and best practices of responsible communication, both internally and externally, on the following 3 dimensions:
- Responsible content: avoiding greenwashing as well as any other type of ‘washing’, avoiding financing or resorting to disinformation;
- Eco/socio production: reducing the carbon footprint and improving the ethics of the communication sector as a whole;
- Co-construction with stakeholders: integrating them into communication practices and ensuring that they are accessible to all.
Assaël ADARY provides a list and overview of the many tools and reference systems available.
1. Responsible content
Assaël ADARY recommends avoiding all the different types of washings (e.g. pinkwashing, purplewashing, wokewashing, etc.) by being factual, humble and talking about reducing negative impact rather than positive impact, by testing and listening to feedback and by acknowledging mistakes (transparency, modesty). He suggests avoiding using broad themes (e.g. the planet, humanity, peace, etc.), putting thematic colours everywhere (e.g. green when talking about environmental action), putting a disproportionate spotlight on a small action or allowing yourself to do anything because you are a ‘committed’ brand.
2. Eco/socio production
For eco-responsible media, communication campaigns or events, it is recommended, for example, to calculate the carbon footprint (numerous tools are provided in the presentation), to give weight to CSR criteria in communication purchases and to implement responsible digital practices.
3. Co-construction with stakeholders
A number of tools/references are presented, which can be used to measure and improve the accessibility of digital tools and communication texts, particularly in terms of the clarity of language and the legibility of websites for all Internet users (including, for example, people suffering from visual fatigue, dyslexia, colour blindness, etc.).
The presentation concludes with a number of additional appendices on the legal framework for responsible communication (French Climate and Resilience Act and climate contract, Green Claims Directive, Act governing influencers and their agents).