Almost exactly one year after its first iteration, DonnersTalk by Leinhäuser tackled its second industry-transforming topic. This time around, the lens was trained on “sustainability” with a clear focus on how companies communicate on this issue. Communicators spend a lot of time thinking about sustainability these days, particularly because of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This EU guideline expands the reporting obligation that previously only held for companies active on the capital market to include all large corporations or companies of that caliber, regardless of their capital market involvement.
A company is defined as “large” if it fulfills at least two of the following criteria:
- Balance sheet total of at least EUR 25 million
- Net sales of at least EUR 50 million
- At least 250 employees
Timeline for the implementation:
- Starting in 2024: The largest 500 listed companies
- Starting in 2025: Other large corporations
- Starting in 2026 or 2028: Capital market-oriented SMEs
This will affect around 15,000 companies in Germany.
Leinhäuser has been specializing in sustainability reports and communication surrounding this topic for several years. Because of this, we decided to reach out to clients of ours who have been affected by these developments or who are simply interested in sustainability, putting them in a room together with experts who have years of experience in sustainability reporting and communication. Our goal was to offer a platform for exchanging knowledge and networking.
Presentation from Sabine Braun: “Sustainability as the new normal”
Director at Accenture Sustainability Strategy & Consulting
The first presentation, given by Sabine Braun, Director at Accenture Sustainability Strategy & Consulting, was on the topic of “Sustainability as the new normal” and dealt with the development, status and prospects of sustainability strategies.
Braun, who has been heavily involved with sustainability since 1992, kicked off the event with a look back on the evolution of our cultural awareness of sustainability, starting with the photo of the Earth taken in 1972 from Apollo 17, which illustrated the vulnerability of our planet for the first time. The 1990s saw a boom in environmental protection; there were environment management systems and reports, and sustainability gradually became an everyday issue.
From the 2000s onward, reporting standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) began to emerge. Climate protection was seen as increasingly important, especially thanks to the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Since then, the regulations surrounding sustainability have only gotten more complex. The EU aims to become climate neutral by 2050 and has developed financial instruments such as green bonds for this purpose. The central regulatory mechanisms include the CSRD and the EU Taxonomy, which require companies to provide a thorough report on sustainability topics. The “dual materiality analysis,” which takes into account environmental and financial factors, is particularly relevant here.
In her outlook on the transformation, Braun emphasized the challenges, in particular the shortage of data, acceptance and courage. She advocated for the use of artificial intelligence for data processing and integration in order to improve sustainability reporting. The transformation will require brave decisions, better communication and a strong integration sustainability into the company strategy, she noted, adding that the focus should be on the actual effects of the business activities. Doing so would make it possible to achieve economic stability and economic acceptance.
Presentation from Dr. Meike Gebhard – In the ‘pincer grip’ of regulation?
CEO Utopia GmbH
In her presentation, Dr. Meike Gebhard honed in on the realm of communication more concretely, specifically communicating about sustainability between the guardrails of the CSRD and the Green Claims Regulations.
The main challenge of modern sustainability communication is in the fact that earlier times were seen as “unlimited opportunities” in which companies could easily position themselves as pioneers. Today, these opportunities are limited, and there are stricter guidelines that restrict companies’ messaging to communication that is transparent, credible and substantive.
A large portion of the presentation was dedicated to the CSRD, which has served as the basis for increased transparency and reliability in sustainability communication as of 2024. Companies are obliged to publish non-financial key figures that are based on standardized data and are reviewed externally. This is intended to prevent greenwashing and promote honest, robust communication.
At the same time, plenty of attention was paid to the Green Claims Regulation, which aims to prevent misleading environmental advertising. General terms such as “environmentally friendly” or “climate neutral” are heavily regulated, and companies have to provide scientifically sound evidence for their claims. Statements such as “20% less CO2” will also no longer be tenable in future without a clear reference value. The regulation aims to prevent greenwashing through stricter audits and sanctions.
All in all, Dr. Gebhard advocated for the regulations to be seen as an opportunity for sustainability communication. She supports communication that addresses a specific audience with creativity and credibility, and is based on substance and transparency. Both regulatory approaches – CSRD and Green Claims – offer the opportunity to make sustainability messaging clearer and more convincing, which will ultimately strengthen companies’ credibility.
The panel discussion
The panel discussion was moderated by our colleague Annette Schmidt and included Sabine Braun, Dr. Meike Gebhard, Diana Maurer from Siemens Financial Services and Abigail Keiper, one of Leinhäuser’s senior managers in the area of creative communication. Following the densely packed insights of the first two talks, the panel took the conversation to practical approaches for integrating sustainability into companies’ everyday communication. The panelists all shared the view that sustainability communication should be an integral part of all communication in future, rather than a separate topic. However, the various levels of knowledge among stakeholders tend to present challenges, as would the strict regulations that can restrict creative and personalized communication.
The group discussed whether sustainability should remain a unique sales pitch at all, or should be accepted as the norm. Of course, the hope is that the latter will soon be the case.
Another topic touched upon was the necessity to integrate sustainability topics into existing channels, particularly where social media is concerned, instead of creating separate channels. The role of company leadership in sustainability communication also received some attention, and consensus seemed to be that communication should ideally be distributed across the entire organization. Finally, the panelists emphasized that authenticity in advertising must become the norm, and that companies should strengthen their marketing and creative departments through further training. But they agreed that there was still a lot of catching up to do in this area.
Presentation from Meike Frese – Embracing paradoxes to release pressure from sustainability communication
Partner at Fährmann Organisationsbegleitung GmbH
Meike Frese’s presentation broached the topic of paradox management in sustainability communication. Essentially, she talked about how companies can deal with conflicting requirements in order to communicate and act successfully in the long term.
Paradoxes often occur when companies have to pursue different, sometimes contradictory goals at the same time. One example is Microsoft’s climate goal to become “carbon negative” by 2030, while at the same time aiming to completely eliminate their historical CO2 emissions by 2050. Such ambitious goals require not only bold announcements, but also detailed and well thought-out plans. However, these plans can quickly be overtaken by reality. In Microsoft’s case, they hadn’t planned on the massive rise in CO2 emissions that resulted from the rapid increase in computing power required by AI. The challenge is to pursue short-term measures and long-term strategies simultaneously.
Frese’s presentation laid out two extremes: On the one hand is the rigid commitment to a plan and, on the other, is the lack of orientation in an uncertain world (VUCA world). Between them sits a gray area in which companies need to act flexibly without losing their clear direction.
As a solution to this paradox, Frese presented a concept that she calls “HALTung” – a combination of the German words for “stop” and “composure” that refers to the ability to remain steadfast and determined despite uncertain conditions. This attitude is similar to a marathon mindset: Successful players don’t give up, even if they encounter obstacles along the way. It’s about making steady progress in the face of difficulties, rather than tapping out.
Frese cited companies such as Armedangels and Fairphone to show that companies that face up to these paradoxes can find innovative and sustainable solutions. Her presentation stressed that paradoxes offer not only challenges, but also opportunities to drive sustainable change.
Overall, the event made it clear how comprehensively the topic of sustainability permeates our society, as well as companies and corporations, and how it must continue to do so. The three presentations and the panel discussion highlighted the complexity of sustainability from different perspectives. The speakers see regulation and reporting standards as a great opportunity. We’ll see how successfully companies manage to implement this mindset once the first audited reports start emerging in 2025. Communicators in corporate communications and accounting are already familiar with the enormous pressure to deliver results under tight deadlines, and now the stakes are getting even higher.
We are looking forward to an exciting reporting season that is fast approaching.
Editorial Team Leinhäuser
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