#1/ Moving towards rational and pragmatic sustainable development

Avoid positioning yourself as a patron or philanthropist. Assume the economic interest. Be educational about compatibility, at the risk of not being credible, or of being accused of "environmental scouting" (emblematic and partial action). Demonstrate the convergence, the interest of all ...

#2/ Assuming your weaknesses to make your strengths credible

Avoid giving lessons, do not make an example of yourself, do not boast of having found a panacea. Be part of a policy of continuous progress. Rehumanise the company, made up of men and women who share the same concerns and values as you, who are no worse than you, who have qualities, who are also fallible, but perfectible. Being responsible in the sense of being able to assume one's impact, without sinking into self-flagellation, finding areas for progress ... sincerity rather than transparency.

#3/ Talking about issues that the company is legitimate in

Legitimacy can come from the history of the company, its business expertise, its territorial roots and the skills of its employees. If this is not the case, work in collaboration with others. Do not improvise yourself as an expert, be modest. Do not necessarily use generic indicators (CO2 emissions, energy consumption, etc.) which are easier because they are better known, but more commonplace and easier to benchmark. Prefer to talk about impacts and specific, unique, segmenting and challenging actions. This is something that only the company can do or explain.

#4/ Being creative and innovative

Breaking out of the imposed exercise, translating these often complex issues, often with scientific and regulatory content, into information that touches, speaks to, can be appropriated, is sensitive... Making the content accessible, translating the often scientific data into consumer insight, better into human insight, translating into benefits...

#5/ Speaking in several voices

Talk with stakeholders, depending on the subject, or with external partners, guarantors, experts. Do not be judge and jury. Avoid at all costs the one-way monologue.

#6/ Conjugating SD communication in the plural

Content and messages must be adapted to the stakeholders being addressed. Do not think of SD communication as generic and uniform. Talking about social aspects to trade unions, environmental aspects to NGOs, strategic relevance to shareholders, is not misrepresenting information, it is pretending to ignore it that is hypocritical. Identify the expert and involved audiences, the specialist media, blogs and particularly active forums, and enter into a dialogue with them. Communicating with these actors means working with them, involving them, soliciting them, asking for their advice rather than leaving the field of criticism open, which forces one to enter into a rhetoric of justification that immediately places the sender in a weak position.

#7/ Selecting and prioritising

Sustainable development is vast. Many actions or commitments can be taken. Don't get trapped into talking about everything, identify what is particularly important to you, what the company is acting on strongly. Drawing the priority issues from the sustainable development or CSR reports will make it easier to read, make your actions visible and credible: what is sustainable development for you, for the company.

#8/ Focusing on the internal

Your employees are your first stakeholders on the subject, inform them in advance, make sustainable development communication an act of recognition, a management action, a performance stimulation action...

#9/ Listening before speaking

SD communication is also a response. Identify counter-arguments, understand criticism, be alert to expectations. Practice "communication crash tests" confronting your commitments or biases with radical and opposing positions. To do this, use round tables, debates, participatory dialogue with clients, etc. We are in continuous communication.

#10/ Action rather than words

Demonstrate, show, film, take the audience into your world, make them understand your constraints, expose the issues, the difficulties, create empathy, show the desire to do something, the commitment on the ground.

#11/ Be educational, inform more than communicate

Teach the public something through your action, do not be navel-gazing about yourself. Sustainable development communication often deals with societal issues, which is of interest: inform the public about the issues you are addressing more or as much as about what you are doing yourself.

#12/ Adopting a positive tone

Without minimising the issues, talk about solutions rather than problems, show the area of possibility. Show the evolution of technology. If you have little credibility or are often criticised, technological innovations are often perceived as a remedy, talk about them, make people dream, show your know-how, if your sector or your name is not promising, change your tune, talk differently. We no longer talk about oil but about energy, and we don't consume it anymore, we save it.

#13/ Setting goals

You have to set measurable objectives, make dates, look at the medium to long term, while showing what has already been put in place and being encouraging.

#14/ Anticipating constraints

Anticipate constraints, particularly regulatory ones, do not react, be proactive, do not give the impression of a forced march.

#15/ Don't let everyone comment on your actions but yourself

Do not be timid, public opinion is more willing to accept imperfection than inaction. Silence is often synonymous with inaction.

#16/ Beware of the risks of dissonance

Always try to reduce the gap between what is said and what is translated/understood, between the desired discourse and the reality, between the stated strategy and the product offer... If a gap exists, deal with it, anticipate it, show that you are in charge, in order to master information that will be known and pointed out anyway. Assumed dissonance will always be less damaging than revealed dissonance.

#17/ Go corporate!

Communication on sustainable development issues, often approached from the environmental angle, is often dealt with through the product offer (eco-designed, less energy-consuming, more recyclable, etc.). These products are sometimes perceived as "alibi products". Do not forget to talk about what the company is doing to reduce the impact of its activities in the broad sense.

#18/ Getting into positive resonance

Bringing the company into line, into compliance, in order to make sustainable development or corporate communication and communication/product offering resonate. Be aware of the potential gap between the desired and stated commitments and the reality experienced by internal staff and stakeholders. Sustainable development communication will be all the more effective if it is relayed, and all the more profitable if it can create an additional competitive advantage. Sustainable development communication should be considered as an element of differentiation, attractiveness and therefore of asset enhancement.

the keys to a successful CSR SD com