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co₂ communication

Once you have defined your climate strategy and goals, it’s time to involve your employees, customers, and other partners. We help you communicate your climate strategy to your stakeholders effectively.

Effective communication about your climate strategy is of great importance. It provides a clear focus for employees and other stakeholders. Clear communication also prevents misunderstandings and ensures more job satisfaction and confidence, which in turn leads to better results and investments. That is why honesty and transparency are central to our approach.

Where to start?

First of all, it is important to realize that communication about carbon claims is often unclear to consumers and regulators. A substantial amount of market research has already been done on this, for example by the Verbraucherzentrale NRW in Germany, the Authority for Consumers and Markets in the Netherlands, and the Advertising Standards Authority or ASA in the United Kingdom.

In addition, more and more companies receive criticism for making incorrect claims, such as the cases of Milieudefensie and the Advertising Code Committee against Shell, but also Arla Foods and KLM are no longer allowed to use the term CO₂ neutral in their communications.

The consequence of this so-called greenwashing is that laws and regulations regarding sustainability practices are being amended in most countries. An example is the accentuation of the EU law: Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Authority for Consumers & Markets has recently set up a ‘guideline for sustainability claims’.

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How can we help?

Transparency is evidently essential in your communication. To ensure this, it is important to increase your knowledge about CO₂. We want to involve you as much as possible in the CO₂ reduction steps you are taking, so you are aware of what your impact is exactly. We provide insight into this impact through various reports.

Honesty is also crucial in your communication. Claims such as CO₂ neutral and climate neutral are often not 100% correct. This may be, among others, because of the robustness of your carbon footprint analysis or the climate project with which you compensate. For example, think of trees that have yet to be planted, or are not yet fully grown or that are disappearing due to a natural disaster. Our advice is to avoid hard claims. Rather, tell your entire climate story in a clear manner, including setbacks and highlights. The form and presentation of your climate story are the key to success. You can use visual details and storytelling to share your story in a clear and inspiring way. FairClimateFund has plenty of photos, videos, and interview materials from our climate projects.

Would you like to exchange ideas about the communication of your climate strategy? Please contact us, we are happy to help you! Also view our customer cases for inspiring examples, such as the CO₂ communication of our customer O My Bag.

Together we are committed to a better and fair climate for everyone.