Can we trust green claims? Communication as a tool for circular transition
Sustainability and circularity are increasingly important competition factors on the market. Consumers want to be sure they make the right choices, but how can they trust a company’s green claims? And how might companies build honest, effective messages that help consumers navigate towards truly circular products and services?
That was the topic of the session “Quest for Clarity – Branding and Communicating Circularity” at Nordic Circular Summit 2022, where six communication experts were invited to share their insights on the role of communication in the circular transition.
In short, they had three pieces of advice to give:
Use clear, transparent communication to help consumers make informed choices
Engage consumers in being an active part of the circular transition
Regulation is needed to help companies and consumers make an impact in accelerating the circular economy
How to communicate clearly and avoid greenwashing
When Ragna Sara Jónsdóttir was about to build a home for her family in Iceland, she had a difficult time finding products that fit her vision of a sustainable home — either because they just didn’t exist or because there was no clear sustainability information. It was so difficult, in fact, that she ended up founding a lifestyle design brand of her own, FÓLK Reykjavik, where almost all products are made of upcycled or recycled materials.
Transparent communication is key for her company, not only with consumers but also with suppliers and resellers. Recently they made an effort to measure the carbon footprint of all products, and she stresses the importance of communicating the actual impact to your partners and consumers.
The more measurable data we will be able to achieve, the better we can communicate.
Anne-Grethe Henriksen, who is the Head of Marketing and Communication at The Nordic Swan Ecolabel, confirms Ragna’s experience. A recent study of Nordic consumer behaviour concluded that the people of the Nordics are very concerned about sustainability. They try to keep the environmental impact of their life at a minimum, but the majority find it difficult to know if products are good environmental choices and believe that businesses often exaggerate how environmentally friendly their products are.
There’s a jungle of green claims, statements and labels. How can we expect consumers to know all the differences between green marketing and greenwashing?
Independent ecolabels like The Nordic Swan Ecolabel are one way of helping consumers understand the sustainable qualities of a product. To get this label, a product needs to pass a range of criteria that spans across conservation of biodiversity, reduced climate change, a non-toxic circular economy and strict demands on the use of chemicals. And it is highly trusted by consumers. According to the survey, 61% of Nordic consumers trust a product labelled with “The Swan” to be a good environmental choice.
How to engage consumers in the circular transition
The experts agree that consumers need to play an active part in the circular transition, but also that they need to understand what the circular economy is and the impact it has. According to Justina Ramonaitytė, who is Communications Coordinator for ReGeneration 2030, not enough people know about the circular economy and, therefore, she demands brands and political institutions to educate people. And it shouldn’t be with lectures and school books but with inspiring educational communication. As an example, she mentions the campaign “Circulent Chooseday!” where her organisation makes social media posts every month with which they inspire youth to choose a circular lifestyle and show that it is attainable, exciting and fun.
Veronica Mike Solheim, who is the Creative Director of Natural State, agrees. She has been leading the creative direction of Nordic Circular Hotspot since its foundation and recalls when she first started working with the organisation, herself new to the concept of circular economy.
The circular economy universe was hard to navigate, it was introverted with long articles on policy, not very engaging and not very human.
Nordic Circular Hotspot’s mission became to share the in-depth circular economy knowledge of its Managing Partners in a way that was easy to understand and made people feel engaged. They created a brand with human, warm and inviting imagery focusing on everyday circularity and started sharing knowledge through articles, social media and events. Now, a few years in, Veronica is satisfied to see that the Nordic Circular Hotspot has become the go-to place for circular economy in the Nordics that they were hoping for.
A person who has long been at the heart of circular economy communication is Ross Findon, who spent five years as the Head of Media and Messaging at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and now serves as the Chief Communications Officer at the circular marketplace Teemill. Having talked to a broad range of stakeholders, from global investment firms to independent designers and regenerative farmers, his experience is that it is very important to connect to the lived experience of the person you’re talking to and make people actively engaged.
Stop thinking about getting people to buy into the story, we actually engage them in being a part of the story. Every time we make a change we need to think about how we make customers part of that change. We give them an active role in this, whether it is sending something back when it’s worn out, whether it is repairing or making a good choice. We just make it clear that people are not just consumers, they are active citizens in driving this change.
How will regulation help accelerate the circular economy?
We have many carrots but we have too few sticks!
The words are from Paal Frisvold, who is a consultant in strategy and communication. He believes ecolabels and engaging consumers are good, but they are not enough to drive change. Even ambitious roadmaps and technical innovations too often miss the point. He takes carbon capture as an example.
In Norway, we are very focused on carbon capture. We want to continue our fossil paradise and just capture the carbon and do away with it like a miracle.
Instead, he wants to see clear regulatory demands like the EU’s ecodesign directive and specific tax regimes that promote circular economy practices. He believes the EU Taxonomy will be a game changer.
Out of the sticks we have available, I think the Taxonomy stick is probably the most efficient. It’s gonna take time but once it’s in place it’s going to be very very forceful, it’s going to be the gold standard.
Another regulation tool that the communication experts hope can help both businesses and consumers is the EU’s new green claims directive. Justina Ramonaitytė thinks that this type of regulation is needed both to take the burden off the consumer and to hold brands who use greenwashing accountable. The same goes for Anne-Grethe Henriksen:
Greenwashing is by definition deceptive with an attempt to make something appear greener than it actually is. It can be vague, selective or irrelevant claims. It can be visual: giving the impression of green, natural, or healthy. It can be misleading eco-labels. We hope the EU green claims directive will solve some of these issues.
How can you start communicating better?
If you would turn the session’s framing questions towards your own business, what measures would you take? How would you make sure that customers can trust your green claims? How might your company build honest, effective messages that help customers navigate towards truly circular products and services?
By Sofia Sundström (Cradlenet)
