Environmental claims must be backed up with environmental evidence

As regulators require more transparency and disclosure from companies on climate and ESG initiatives, brands will again need to pivot and reconsider what is possible and what isn’t when it comes to their brand communications.

That’s according to Suzanne Parker, Strategy Partner at AMV BBDO, speaking at the reent Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit.Brna

Brands and agencies are in the same boat

Brands are asking their agencies for advice on sustainability, but many of them are also struggling to navigate an increasingly knotty landscape with emerging regulations and a fear of greenwashing.

Regulators are cracking down

Already, the UK’s advertising regulator has cracked down on brands pushing the envelope with their green claims, with more than 20 enforcements so far, including against airlines, banks and automakers. Marketers must be thorough and clear in understanding sustainability work through the company’s entire supply chain, not just the storytelling part.

“Since there’s going to be regulatory bodies, we need to listen to them because they’re doing the right thing. But let’s think about how we can be creative in our solution, also how we can make sure what we’re doing is something that’s translatable to customers,” Parker said.

Upskilling is required

The entire advertising industry needs to upskill to be able to understand how to talk about sustainability within a brand marketing context, Parker believes, especially under the harsh spotlight of scrutiny. “It’s one thing for us to be able to sell chocolate. It’s another thing for us to understand the complexity of something like a cocoa supply chain, or to tell consumers about ethically sourced chocolate,” Parker said.

“We have a big job to do to continue to upskill and work with partners, and [figure out] what we can and can’t say,” she added.

Key takeaways

• In most markets, environmental claims must be backed up with obective environmental evidence – not by market practice or by good feelings or ambitions.
• While marketers may talk about sustainability every day, the average consumer doesn’t and has little comprehension of marketing claims. Education is essential to help them understand.
  
• The marketing industry should see regulation of sustainability claims from companies as an opportunity rather than a hurdle.

For more, read the full report: Confronting the knotty reality of sustainability communications