During the Communication Summit 2024, organised by Flows and Belga, professionals from the business world discussed communication on sustainability. An open dialogue with opponents and transparent communication appear to be the key factors for achieving sustainable growth.
Trade magazine Flows organised the Communication Summit on Tuesday 24 September in cooperation with press agency Belga. The event was born three years ago from the observation that companies in the maritime and logistics sector did not always have a strong commitment to communication. “We saw a sector that was reluctant to communicate, but today we see more and more communication people and spokespeople from that same sector going public,” indicates Hans Vandendriessche, editor-in-chief of Belga.
The theme this year was communication around sustainability. Today, companies are undertaking a lot of initiatives around sustainability, but how do you manage to communicate this properly without running the risk of the initiatives being presented as greener than they are. “Embrace your opponent”, was the quote of the day.
Complaint not necessarily negative
“From a natural reflex we look at complaints as something negative and want to keep that number of complaints as low as possible, but actually you have to look at it very openly and dare to enter the conversation,” says Annick Dirckx, spokeswoman for Lantis. “A complaint is the sign that someone has made the effort to find something out about you, and these are often insights and perspectives you may not have seen. Hence the message: engage in dialogue and embrace your opponent.”
“Greenwashing is a topic that is somewhat polarising, but a very fascinating one,” says Tycho Van Hauwaert of the Bond Beter Leefmilieu (BBL). “I think that as BBL we can stand between the companies precisely because we enter into dialogue with the companies. Although they are sometimes difficult conversations, they are conversations that bring us closer together.”
Communication based on figures
Port companies Indaver (Katoen Natie) and Evonik each brought a presentation to explain the sustainable initiatives and especially the communication about them. “Sustainability is the basis of what we do. When we were founded in 1985, we immediately determined that we want to process the waste sent to us in an ecologically and economically responsible way. That idea is ingrained in our reason for existence and has resulted in sustainability reports,” Karl Vrancken, chief sustainability officer at the waste treatment company Indaver, opened his keynote.
In terms of press mention, Vrancken stresses that communication is always based on facts and scientifically based information. “We rely as much as possible on measurements, reports and collaborations with research parties that record what we do. Figures help to make clear what we mean. We also have those figures audited externally. Every figure in our sustainability report has gone through an external audit.”
Zero emissions do not exist
“In the context of green claims, there are many waste companies that say zero emissions exist, we say, ‘Zero does not exist’. We will never communicate that we have zero emissions. There will always be emissions,” he concludes.
“At Evonik, ‘sustainability’ stands for more than just reducing NOx/nitrogen emissions and CO₂,” commented Danny Erreweyaert, communications manager of Evonik Antwerp nv. “Social and social responsibility are also central to the chemical company’s operations.”
