How to communicate "Green"

How green is your organization? Light, medium, or dark green? At what point can an organization say "we're green," without being met with the skepticism that often greets such claims?

The answer, unfortunately, is never. "Green" is a kind of holy grail with no universally accepted definition, so some people will always cry Greenwash no matter how green your organization is, so don't pretend to be absolutely green.  Even some of the worlds most sustainable companies, such as Interface Flor, prefer to talk about their goals to be greener still, rather than brag about what they've done. They do this to avoid the inherent risks of greenwashing (see previous post, a case study on Canadian Tire)

Companies should first seek to answer this question ...
themselves: Do you feel your organization is green? If yes, why? If not, what factors are you working at improving?

Talk to People:  people within your organization but also those who interact with it on a regular basis. These can be customers, suppliers, partners:  what do these groups of people expect from your organization?  What do they feel are your organization's strengths and weaknesses.  Listening to your stakeholders can help you evaluate potential risks, and invest your time and money where it matters most.

Assess your "Greeness:"  So how green are you?  Once you've decided which green-related factors matter most to your organization and the people around it, create a few indicators to measure progress over time. Common indicators include waste and CO2 generation, energy use, employee illness days, transportation emissions, etc.

Set Goals: armed with your indicators as a baseline, you can now set realistic and ambitious goals for how much better you want to be in one, two or five years.  


Tell the Story:  Context is king.  People really do want to know how companies are making the transition to the green economy, so do make your message accessible to a wide audience and do away with jargon.  Most people understand that sustainability is a work in progress so don't be afraid to expose a few warts. Transparency and honesty in communications help you build trust with consumers and employees.

And however you chose to communicate your efforts, remember: claiming to be green is like saying you're the world's fastest runner - unless your name is Youssain Bolt, no one is going to believe you.