The marketing value of mandatory climate reporting
As well as sharing the benefits of its products and services, marketing can also showcase an organisation’s mission, purpose and values as well as the positive planet and people impacts it is both aiming for and achieving.
With mandatory climate reporting introduced in Australia from 1 January 2025, many organisations will soon be sitting on a marketing goldmine of information. It gives an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and transparency, enhancing their brand by aligning to environmentally conscious customers and investors.
That’s because monitoring and reporting produces verified data so marketing messages can be aligned with concrete actions and data – avoiding greenwashing and adhering to ACCC guidelines.
My 5 top tips for using that data for effective sustainability storytelling:
Purpose: Your story should serve a clear purpose, whether it's carbon reduction, water conservation, or waste management.
Show Progress: Highlight your journey, be transparent about progress to date and share your ongoing commitment.
Humanise Data: Share stories of the impact your actions are having; how they help people and/or the planet.
Visuals: Use infographics, images, and videos for relatability.
Educate & Inspire: Narratives should both inform and motivate.
For example:
Imagine that a company installs solar panels, solar-powered aircon units and a battery storage system to reduce the energy costs at a rural outpost. It's the first in a planned rollout across the country to lower their reliance on fossil fuels. Their carbon reporting data demonstrates lower CO2 emissions. The outpost's manager reports happier employees thanks to cooler temperatures all day from their new solar-powered aircon units.
Their marketing could use these 5 tips as follows:
Purpose: Carbon emission reduction through lower fossil fuel reliance
Show Progress: The number of sites they plan to upgrade + in what timescale + where they are along that plan
Humanise Data: Employee videos sharing how the new solar-powered aircon units have changed their working environment; Operations managers sharing the impact of cost savings (to buy new machines and/or increase pay)
Visuals: Using infographics to demonstrate the average internal and external temperatures at the site; demonstrating the step reduction in working temperatures. Graphs to show the reduction in fossil fuel consumption
Educate & Inspire: Share learnings – from choosing the systems installed, how energy usage is monitored, measured and analysed, through to any grants that were available to help fund the initiatives, plus how the changes were communicated internally.
Want to get started on your sustainability storytelling journey? Download our free “Marketing without Greenwashing Checklist”.