There is rightly a huge focus on calling out attempts at greenwashing, and it can be tempting for companies to respond by underplaying their plans and achievements.
But so-called green-shushing is also a big mistake, and not just because you miss out on the credit you deserve.
We are in a race against time to prevent dangerous climate change and nature collapse. And if your peers can't clearly see that you're moving fast and firmly, it reduces the pressure on them to do the same.
In other words, it's not enough to be a quiet leader – an essential part of the role is to be assertive about having an ambitious agenda, so others in your sector and supply chain are more likely to follow suit.
On the other hand, you don't want to end up in court being accused of making misleading claims.
So, how do you get the balance right in your communications? How do you tell your story properly, and in a high-impact way that influences others?
I'm not a lawyer (and your sustainability communications need the input of a lawyer).
But I follow closely what they have to say about the topic, and I've scrutinised a large number of reports. Here are some tips.
1. Be consistent in what you say.
You can only be as bold as your weakest statement entitles you to be.
If you are saying you've got a business plan to achieve net-zero in your disclosures, but internal emails say net-zero isn't folded into your business planning, then you've got a potential problem – if you don't believe me, just ask Shell.
And there's no point earnestly discussing in your disclosures what a world in which temperature rise is limited to 1.5 degrees means for your business, if you've only set a trajectory for emissions cuts consistent with limiting temperature rise to two degrees. You haven't got skin in the game, so you're not entitled to comment.
2. Talk about uncertainty in a clear way.
Your business will need to explain why there is some uncertainty in its statements about decarbonisation and sustainability, and that will partly involve the use of cautionary, legal language about the forward-looking statements that you make.
But it's a good idea to also talk about uncertainty and the prospect of unexpected events in everyday terms, and there are many ways to do this.
For example, we have 27 years to go before we reach 2050.
You can talk about where your business or industry was – and how it saw its future – in the reports that it issued 27 years ago, as a way of contextualising the challenges of laying out a long-term climate plan.
However, uncertainty isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card. You need to show your assumptions are reasonable and valid.
That's particularly true of any assumptions you might have made about timelines for the deployment of technologies such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and green iron and steel.
3. Add the voices of your employees, suppliers, and customers to your communications.
If you are taking a leadership role, then there is no doubt that you are working in partnership with suppliers and customers, and that you are closely engaging your workers.
These voices should be present in your disclosures, so those reading the reports can see how your efforts are viewed by those who work with you or for you every day.
Comments from these group can also add to the interest, by providing a break from the corporate "tone" you have set for your communications.
Although these groups can speak with knowledge about what you're doing, they can't speak with full authority.
So you need a disclaimer along the lines of: "In this report you will find comments from our customers, suppliers and workers. They have important things to say about our performance. But while they can speak about our company, only our board can speak for it."
Take care to ensure that these other voices are used in a way that adds information-value. Bland praise from them will be seen for what it is – PR puffery.
And don't just fill your report with pictures of smiling-but-voiceless employees or customers – it reduces them to no more than sustainability wallpaper.
4. Ask Traditional Owners if they want to contribute to your disclosures.
You should ask First Nations communities on or near where you operate whether they want their comments included in your sustainability reports and other disclosures – either their comments about your activities, or about their own unique connection to the land they share with you, or both.
Two major reviews of environmental schemes – (the Chubb review of the Australian carbon credits and the Samuel review of the nation's framework environment law) a –found that the role of First Nations people had not been properly valued in sustainability legislation.
The Samuel review identified "a culture of tokenism and symbolism", rather than one of genuine inclusion, and a failure to properly recognise Indigenous knowledge.
Your company needs to demonstrate it's not making the same mistakes.
Whether or not First Nations people choose to have their comments included in your disclosures, you need to be clear in your communications about what you do to recognise and respect their rights, perspectives and aspirations.
5. Remember that coming to grips with nature impacts is an emerging skill for most of us.
Nearly every company is at the bottom of a steep learning curve when it comes to disclosing nature impacts and dependencies.
Unfortunately, the same is also true for most of those who read your nature disclosures, because the vast majority of us have become deeply ignorant of the natural world.
As a result, we need as many reminders as possible, on as many levels as possible, of how nature is threaded through our lives.
It's true that your company's primary attention needs to be on building in-house awareness of nature impacts and dependencies, and on finding the language to talk about these.
But companies can also play a small but useful role in bringing nature back into focus for all of us, and in highlighting its importance.
For example, you could describe how the particular environments and ecosystems on which your business depends are also important to a broad range of communities, artists, conservationists, historians and scientists.
Because bringing nature back from the brink has to involve bringing nature back into the foreground in as many ways as possible.
6. Advertise your green credentials, but provide evidence to back up your claims.
Consumers are increasingly drawn to products that do less environmental harm, as you’re your business customers. So strong environmental advertising will give you a commercial advantage over your laggard peers.
But you must be able to prove your claims on a lifecycle basis. And that proof must be easy to find.
If you are planning an advertising campaign, a good resource to ensure you avoid potential pitfalls is the UK Committee of Advertising Practice's hot-off-the-press latest update to its guidance on environmental advertising.
Also pay close attention to what new guidance emerges from the ACCC, and the actions that the ACCC takes on greenwashing, following its internet sweep of environmental claims made by businesses.
In your advertising to customers always take care not to overstate the environmental benefits of the product or service being promoted.
And it can also be a good idea in advertising campaigns to include an acknowledgement of your role in creating climate and/or environmental problems.
Finally, don't advertise that you are committed to net-zero. That would basically be like promoting a product you are going to release 27 years from now.
Talking about net-zero is a complex message, and it belongs with your formal disclosures, not in an advertisement.
7. Show that you are aware of contemporary expectations on disclosure and integrity.
Your disclosures should explain the extent to which you follow the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Finance Disclosures (TCFD) and the evolving guidance of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
You also need to demonstrate an awareness of climate and sustainability standards being finalised by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB).
In addition, you should show you are monitoring the work being done by the international Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), and the international Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).
You should also demonstrate a familiarity with the Oxford Offsetting Principles, as well as with relevant technology roadmaps and sectoral emissions reduction strategies.
8. Show you are using carbon offsets to get in the fast lane on climate action, not to stay in the slow lane.
You need to demonstrate in your disclosures that you aren't using offsets as an easy way out – a way of putting off in-house emissions reduction action that is feasible now.
But, equally, you should explain how you are making good use of high-quality offsets to significantly augment what you're doing in-house to cut emissions.
In other words, people need to know whether you are using offsets because your lazy, or because you're a leader.
Have a well thought out and detailed offsets policy, and make it public.
In addition, be very clear about the integrity checks that are applied to the credits you acquire.
And remember, using credits wisely isn't just about risk mitigation and integrity checks. You can choose credits that strengthen your brand, for example by buying from projects that are in your customer markets, or that align with your business activities.
Also keep in mind that Australia's government-run Climate Active carbon neutral certification scheme allows you to use Large-scale Generation Certificates to achieve neutrality, as well as carbon offsets.
9. Get your disclosures independently vetted.
Investors increasingly want to know that the data in your sustainability and climate reporting has been independently assured, and companies are increasingly obtaining assurance over at least some of their sustainability information.
The brand new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which will be phased in from January 1 next year, initially requires limited assurance over CSRD disclosures, with the goal of moving to reasonable assurance.
The forthcoming ISSB international sustainability standards don't require assurance, as the issue was outside the ISSB's remit.
To help bring more rigour and consistency to the assurance of sustainability disclosures, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) is developing an international standard on sustainability assurance (ISSA 5000), which is likely to be released for comment later this year, with the aim of finalising it in late 2024.
The ISSB and the IAASB have worked closely together on their respective projects.
10. Remember that communication isn't the main game.
Effective, high-impact communication on your sustainability performance boils down to this: Be informed, be honest, and be interesting.
But even though avoiding greenwashing and green-shushing deserves a lot of attention, it's not where your primary focus should lie.
If you don't have a Paris-aligned, science-aligned strategy so you at least fairly contribute to limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, that's a big fail (and potentially a legal breach), even if your communications are clear and accurate.
Similarly, if you aren't mapping out a strategy to become nature-positive, that's a big fail, even if you're slavishly following the evolving TNFD disclosure guidance.
In the end, although it's important to talk the talk, it's far more important to walk the walk.
Murray Griffin's consultancy Earthed.au, advises businesses on sustainability communications.