El 2021 CANVAS Sustainable Strategies report in collaboration with Graphext parses The role of the media in the dissemination of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. This report allows us to better understand the level of awareness and awareness of the importance of each of the 17 objectives that are being achieved in public opinion.
We are already in the 21st century, and a large part of large Spanish companies have social responsibility plans in place. They communicate them in their reports and link their brands to some values that relate to the United Nations plan for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its great global image campaign. And, in this environment, the Report shows us that investment in environmental communication is the most relevant of all. Investing in environmental communication is being very profitable for brands and the data shown prove it... although in many cases these are not the topics that could bring the most value to the brand for its stakeholders. The fact is that the communication of brands and corporations about their sustainability often lacks sufficient data about the real impacts it generates on the community.
Data should be the first ingredient for any CSR-based marketing campaign. That is why the publication of this Report is good news, which presents figures and quantities about the evolution of information issued by companies -and amplified by social networks- of the 17 objectives set out by the United Nations in 2015. Because, as Lord Kelvin said, What is not measured does not exist. What is not defined cannot be measured. What is not measured, cannot be improved. What is not improved, always degrades.
The first fact of the Report that provides interesting conclusions is the following: Of the 17 objectives of the SDGs, the one that has had the most presence in published communications is 13 (Climate Action), followed by 3 (Health and Wellbeing) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). In other words, apart from the logical strong presence that health issues had in times of pandemic, the issues that are most communicated are environmental issues, clearly above social issues and those related to the fight against inequalities.
Why do we talk more about environmental issues than about social issues? Because it offers more testable, measurable and comparable impact data. Not only are there standardized methodologies for measuring CO2 emissions, but also an extensive dissemination and international political and economic consensus that requires these data. Lord Kelvin would be delighted. Data, data, data.
Once the factors for measuring environmental impacts have been standardized, companies can now set objectives and implement actions to achieve them, or impose standards and limits on their suppliers. In addition, investment banks that must finance their projects can also group and consolidate the evolution of the issues of the companies whose shares they hold in their portfolio and also measure their joint impact. Everything is measurable and everyone can do something concrete and communicable with -more or less- veracity.
In addition, There are also emotional factors that help brands to reference the environmental issue: the widespread media coverage of the girl activist (Greta Thunberg), a well-established audiovisual communication symbol (the color green), international days of public awareness (International Day of Environmental Education, International Day of Action against Warming, World Environment Day, World Oceans Day...) and the perception that environmental issues are more cross-cutting and that they have more consensus among consumers. The latter, probably, is a consequence of the sum of all the above factors.
The bottom line is that The SDGs most present in the media are not necessarily the ones that most interest society, but rather those that are easiest to measure and which they can raise the least debate. And it doesn't have to agree with the aspects that most concern citizens according to the same Report, which are the economic situation and the social consequences that derive from it, highlighting health and employment, education or growing inequalities as priority issues.
What is not measured does not exist, and social objectives need impact measurement standards so that companies can increase their communication and clarify their brand strategy. How does my brand bring economic value to the community? Do we create or destroy net employment in the value chain of a new product or service? Does our business create or expand inequalities? We have more data, and that makes us understand that there is a lot of exciting work to be done.
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Emilio Vera Martín
Sigma Rocket senior consultant
