The Brand Value of Communicating on Sustainability and Renewables

March 1, 2021

Bridget Cameron

From purchasing renewables - in the form of power purchase agreements (PPAs), energy attribute certificates (EACs) or carbon offsets - to addressing climate change by engaging your supply chain on decarbonization, you’ve taken a critical step towards reducing your organization’s carbon footprint and promoting the growth of clean technologies.

Advancing your sustainability strategy and goals not only makes your organization more responsible, but also has the power to meaningfully connect you to your customers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders. In this era of transparency, both internal and external stakeholders expect – and even demand – that the brands they interact with operate sustainably. This is evidenced by global asset manager, Blackrock's, commitment to sustainable investment, affirming that companies that embrace sustainability and the net zero transition will drive better returns.

Corporate leaders like Microsoft, General Motors, Amazon, and Walmart have taken full advantage of the brand value of communicating green power purchases. Beyond reinforcing a positive message behind their products and services, their focus on marketing green power efforts has helped these corporations demonstrate social responsibility to NGOs, generate powerful buzz for the role of the corporate green power purchaser, enhance their appeal to talent looking for a responsible employer, and produce substantial positive publicity. Our industry friends and clients enjoy significant PR benefits from The New York Times, Bloomberg Markets, WSJ’s Market Watch, and GreenBiz, to name a few.

In addition to the positive press, organizations are also able to leverage news across multiple platforms including social media, web content, print materials, custom products, award nominations, partnership applications, case studies, and other collateral. Each marketing avenue uniquely connects the brand to new audiences and a broader community of like-minded stakeholders.

When an organization announces any type of clean energy or climate action commitment, however, it is important to understand exactly what environmental claims the organization can legitimately make across various mediums. The FTC regulates environmental claims and the SEC has recently deployed a task force focused on rooting out false ESG and climate claims. Therefore, all organizations must use caution while crafting their messaging and ensure they have ownership of the associated environmental commodities and are demonstrating material impact with their sustainability efforts to make credible claims.

Schneider Electric’s expert communications services team helps our global renewable energy and climate change advisory clients professionally message their clean energy purchases and sustainability commitments to a variety of internal and external audiences. From award-winning case studies to claims consultations and ESG report writing services, we provide the marketing tools needed to credibly deliver the highest results from organizational sustainability communications.