Selling your sustainability story

As COP 29 gets underway, Tom Brown, Senior Consultant at Bladonmore, reflects on some of the conversations at Climate Week NYC and explains how companies are tightening up the business case for sustainability

Midtown Manhattan is busy at the best of times. But on the Monday morning of Climate Week NYC, it’s best to skip popping out for a morning coffee. Especially this year, given it was a bumper year with double the number of events hosted across the city in late September and early October.

The growing support from a wide range of organisations across the public and private sectors is evidence that momentum continues to build behind the climate movement. But the reality is that progress is lagging a long way behind where we’re meant to be.

This year’s theme, ‘It’s Time’, stressed the immediate need for action before the effects of climate change become even more apparent, sticking to a script that now goes back several years.

It’s not that this call to arms is falling on deaf ears all the time – clearly the intent and ambition for change is often there. But stressing this sense of urgency doesn’t seem to inspire the collective action that’s needed. In other words, we can’t rely on the world’s conscience alone.

Replacing platitudes with pragmatism

For progress to happen, economic growth (or more specifically, profits and performance when it comes to businesses) needs to remain at the heart of the conversation. This is where communicators have a key role to play – explaining how sustainability measures are material and can be an effective way to deliver against financial targets and future proof operations, as well as where the limits of a company’s ability to make an impact lies.

The point is, in many cases, sustainability is simply good business. This is the story companies should be selling to investors rather than focusing on what they’re doing for the good of the planet. For example, for commercial real estate owners, using smart solutions to improve the energy of their buildings isn’t just about being responsible – it’s a way of delivering significant cost savings across their portfolio, and being more attractive to tenants.

Growing advocacy for better regulation

Admittedly, the challenge is that this story isn’t always simple to define. So much so that several businesses have backtracked on commitments this year, citing the competitive risks that their proactive approach to sustainability measures have created.

The need for better regulation was unsurprisingly a consistent theme of conversation at NYC Climate Week. Many businesses are stepping up their intent, pushing governments to change regulations to make it possible for them to deliver on their sustainability narratives and investor returns. An open letter from Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders with over 100 signatures has been published in the build-up to COP29 with that end in mind.

Whether this kind of advocacy and current levels of support will be enough to create the change they seek in the new political environment remains to be seen. But what is clear is that companies know that their sustainability story needs to connect to positive financial performance if they are to win all audiences over.

If you’d like help with your sustainability communications, get in touch.