{"id":135554,"date":"2021-05-24T09:59:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T08:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=135554"},"modified":"2021-12-02T13:11:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T12:11:45","slug":"lessons-from-the-cipr-climate-change-and-the-role-of-pr-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/lessons-from-the-cipr-climate-change-and-the-role-of-pr-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the CIPR Climate Change and the Role of PR conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

PR has an important role to play in the adoption of better business practices when it comes to ethics and environmental factors<\/a> across all levels of business, whether stakeholder leadership<\/a>, coworker or client level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unsure where to start, speakers at last week\u2019s CIPR conference Climate Change and the Role of PR<\/a> had plenty of ideas for getting people on board, organisation-wide.<\/p>\n

1) Use your influence wherever you can within your organisations<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018How comms professionals can save the planet\u2019 \u2013 Climate Group\u2019s director of internal communications Luke Herbert<\/strong>
\n\u2018It\u2019s a risk, as a business, to say one thing and do another. Get your executives in the right forums. Show them what other executives are doing; get them on courses. Be upfront and clear about the risks of saying this, and delivering this,\u2019 advised Luke for getting leadership teams on board with environmental initiatives and strategy.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s much better to plant your flag in the future, and work back from that \u2013 leadership strategy is easier than a follower strategy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Exert your influence on your organisations where you can. If they have huge revenues, they have huge footprints. The first thing is to commit. Be really ambitious \u2013 the bigger things are negotiable, even if they\u2019re not solvable. Set up pathways for the trickier problems.<\/p>\n

\u2018My one message to you is to lead the change.\u2019<\/p>\n

2) Empower your decision makers with the information they need to be aware of<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018Truth, responsibility, opportunity, risk, legacy: 5 words in 15 minutes to sum up the importance of the plastic crisis for every business\u2019 \u2013 Plastic Planet UK\u2019s co-founder Sian Sutherland<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018The idea of the \u2018ethical consumer\u2019 is silly \u2013 rather, it\u2019s a design problem; it\u2019s a production problem,\u2019 said Sian Sutherland on how businesses need to start taking action on the plastic crisis.<\/p>\n

\u2018Your organisation\u2019s decision makers need empowerment on this – they need to know the materials of the future, the innovators and the convertors. Wherever there is change, there is always opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u2018The myths and the facts of climate change are all our responsibility and we need to start telling the truth. You guys \u2013 the PR and comms industry \u2013 are the ones with power. It is a business where we can create change at scale and pace.\u2019<\/p>\n

3) Educate clients and provide leadership on sustainability initiatives<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe role of public relations: how to advise clients and your business to go Green \u2013 #EthicalHour\u2019s Sian Conway-wood, CommHero\u2019s Asif Choudry, PersonaR & WhiteElephantDigital\u2019s Andras Sztaniszlav<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018We need to educate our clients and ensure that sustainability is embedded in what they\u2019re doing,\u2019 said Sian Conway-Wood.<\/p>\n

\u2018The real dark side of this is that brands that are greenwashing are dominating the sustainable conversation, and the media is such a big influence on us and how we understand these topics as well as the action we go on to take. We just haven\u2019t got the time to waste – I passionately believe that greenwashing is where we should start.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sustainability is becoming more and more of a consumer demand – because education is happening and awareness is growing, the way to be profitable is to be sustainable. And if there are clients that are outside of the echo chamber, we need to be a sustainability lens for them, and I think positive stories are the way to go\u2019.<\/p>\n

Asif Choudry advocates for being an example for clients when it comes to making change: \u2018In the last ten years, we\u2019ve been involved in a sustainability drive. We took decisions to ensure every sheet of paper we use is FSC-certified and sustainably sourced.<\/p>\n

\u2018All of this takes commitment and it takes investment \u2013 none of this comes for free. We don\u2019t pass this down the line to clients. How much are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?\u2019<\/p>\n

And for Andras, there has been one big lesson the PR and comms industry can take from the pandemic:
\n\u2018Driving conversation with all stakeholders is the most essential part \u2013 we\u2019ve learned that it\u2019s fine to make mistakes sometimes, that it can be right to do something wrong if it starts conversations.<\/p>\n

\u2018The main part of our role is broadcasting, but this is more about conversation and dialogues. Individual actions are just as important when it comes to the hard work ahead on climate change.\u2019<\/p>\n

Interested in more from the CIPR Climate Change and the Role of PR conference? Read our write up of the half-day event here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more on ESG and the important part public relations and communications can play, watch our webinar The ESG Opportunity For PRs<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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