Eliminating greenwashing in CSR reporting

In the second half of my conversation with Rowan Drury, copywriter, sustainability consultant and founder of Sweden’s first zero-waste shop, we discuss the benefits of hiring a specialist sustainability copywriter for CSR reporting, not only because of our ability to turn stats into reader-relevant stories, but to act as guardians against greenwashing. 

Romilly Golding: Let’s get to the nitty gritty - why should companies use specialist sustainability copywriter for their CSR reports? Why not just get it written by the in-house marketing team?

Rowan Drury: There’s real value in hiring a copywriter with sustainability experience. Marketers may be able to write well, but they might not have a background in CSR, which gives specialist writers like you and I an ability to assess all aspects of the report, which adds real value. A sustainability writer will have worked on a range of reports for different clients, and will draw on those case studies to bring ideas that can enhance the writing, the format and structure, all in the name of delivering greater readability, clarity and engagement from the readership. 

RG: So how does your approach to sustainability writing differ to that of a traditional marketer or non-specialist writer? 

RD: As a copywriter, when I'm looking at the content, I’ll ask all the usual questions: is it easily digestible, easy to read, clear and persuasive? But as a sustainability consultant, I’ll also ask: where are the proof points? If a client is writing that they aim to reduce transport emissions, I will ask - by how much? Compared to what? By doing what? I will push for the data behind it. It's super important to the communications that audiences are told an informative story based on data, otherwise it's just words.

RG: What kind of questions do you ask first?

RD: I’ll look at how the content is organised and then step back and ask questions such as: how are we positioning this? Who is the target audience? Is it right to talk about it in this way? Where should the focus be? What is the messaging hierarchy? … all those those kinds of questions that will shape the message and the flavour of the text.

RG: What about the content – is it really our role to question the client’s copy? Or do we have an obligation to call out greenwashing?

RD: As copywriters, it's in our blood to make things sound better, but we have to be wary of doing this in the sustainability space, and call out clients that have got too caught up in their own achievements. It’s our job to be objective and keep the main goal in mind, which is to deliver a neutral, factual report on the company’s sustainability progress - and the key word here is progress, not completion. I remember working for a telecoms company and getting frustrated with tech features that were presented as ‘life changing’ - I’d have to stop and ask really? Does the hype live up to the reality? And with sustainability we just can't do that because it's greenwashing; companies can’t inflate what they're doing, because we're in a serious, data-driven business. This is why I think the majority of greenwashing comes from a lack of knowledge, not a malicious intent to deceive. But people do get caught up in exaggerated writing to make things sound better.

RG: How can sustainability copywriters help companies avoid this kind of hyperbole? 

RD: A business might make a claim to being ‘environmentally friendly’, but whether this is on the back of a cereal packet or in a corporate report, we can’t make statements like that without backing them up. So, some greenwashing is almost accidental: it sounds valid, but an experienced sustainability writer will help companies pick up on some of these claims by asking for the evidence, or rewriting and rewording in a more honest and transparent way.

RG: Yes, it’s the same for claims about recycling and things being ‘recyclable’ which I get quite irate about! Recyclable packaging has no environmental benefit whatsoever: it simply puts the onus on the end consumer, enabling companies to wash their hands of their environmental responsibilities.

RD: Saying something is recyclable is not only greenwashing, it’s a cop-out, as such a small percent of what we actually buy gets recycled. In Sweden we recycle like crazy, it’s part of the national psyche. But for plastics, only 20% of what is sorted actually gets recycled.  Nobody knows these statistics because they’re not shared; it’s only if you’re in this industry or if you dig for the data, that you know. So everyone's just obsessed with recycling, as though that's the answer, rather than reducing and eliminating. 

To summarise – the benefits of hiring a sustainability copywriter are manifold: we help ensure CSR content is robust and a real reflection of progress made. We weed out greenwashing claims, providing stakeholders with a truer picture of your sustainability successes. Organisations whose reports withstand the scrutiny of a qualified sustainability writer have a clearer-eyed view of progress along their sustainability journey, leading to a franker assessment of future sustainability targets and a better grasp of the gap between goals set and progress made.