GreenBiz25 brought together over 2,400 attendees, and one of the most prominent themes throughout this year’s conference was the changing and impactful role of communications that will better link a company’s business performance with their sustainability efforts.
As a convening partner of GreenBiz, WBCSD hosted a reception on the opening night of the conference, “Advancing the Sustainability Narrative in Turbulent Times,” which brought together more than 90 attendees to continue discuss how we can better communicate about ESG and sustainability, and how we can frame sustainability through the lens of business impact.
The key takeaways from this discussion included:
- Reframe ESG and climate action in terms of economic growth, resilience, and competitiveness, and using language that focuses on materiality, not morality.
- Strengthen corporate messaging to reinforce long-term commitments, as sustainability has become not only a business imperative, but critically tied to its performance in managing competitiveness, risk, resilience, and license to operate.
- Use strategic messaging; the right language can mean the difference between progress and backlash.
The strong consensus from companies is not whether they will continue sustainability efforts, but how to communicate them more effectively.
Our team was actively engaged in conversations throughout the week, leading three sessions that tackled key issues at the intersection of business and sustainability:
- On Tuesday, 11 February, Giulia Carbone, Director, Nature for Climate, spoke during the session, “Deciphering Sustainability Standards – SBTi, ISO, VCMI, and More.”
- On Tuesday, 11 February, Naama Avni Kadosh, Director, Partnership for Carbon Transparency, spoke during the session, “Accounting for Scope 3 Emissions: Product Carbon Footprints.”
- On Wednesday, 12 February, Giulia Carbone spoke during the breakout session, “How Lean Sustainability Teams Build High-Impact Carbon Credit Strategies.”
The biggest takeaway coming out of GreenBiz is the clear need to align our agenda with C-suite concerns, like risk mitigation, cost savings, revenue growth, innovation, and overall business performance. The way forward on sustainability must use more sharpened business language, but the clear message was to stay the course and fundamentally remain committed to the transition that business leaders know lies ahead. This sentiment was echoed by our WBCSD members. Ultimately, GreenBiz25 served as a call to action.