How Can Companies Avoid the #Greenwashing Accusation? Try Evidence-Driven Storytelling

By Michael J. Jordan

NEW YORK –?Nestlé?recently announced?its plan to?invest $1 billion?for “Sustainable Coffee Farming.”

The company will pour most of that?money?into?Brazil, Vietnam, Mexico, Colombia, C?te d’Ivoire, Indonesia and Honduras?– the seven countries that reportedly provide?90% of the brand’s coffee sourcing?– to?help?local?farmers there?“transition to regenerative agriculture practices.”

Sounds like a noble purpose. Yet, will it truly yield results? Perhaps the greatest challenge will be to prove that this?huge?investment actually?delivers?impact.?Likewise, how can?Nestlé?generate evidence?that all this helped them?achieve?their?Sustainability goals? How can the company overcome suspicion that they and other firms are merely "greenwashing" the problem – by throwing money at it – without producing real results?

If I were advising?Nestlé, I'd recommend the same approach that I'll soon share with members of the Geneva Communicators Network:?apply my toolkit of?skills and strategies?of?what I call?Sustainability?Storytelling. Publish?a series of "Impact Stories" that contain core, strategic messages; which are supported by credible, persuasive evidence; then folded into illuminating, humanizing content.

We'd?post them?on?the?Nestlé?website and social-media channels, where,?as long-lasting “evergreen” content,?they can?remain for one, two, even?three years. They can also be inserted into annual reports, internal PPTs, pitch-decks, and so on.

Here's one potential story: We?interview?a?farmer who’s benefited from?this investment, illuminating?how?they?shifted?to?“regenerative agriculture practices.”?Crucially, we identify the symbolism: connect dots?between this one farmer and?Nestle’s?broader?Nescafé Plan 2030?strategy.?Which means, this beneficiary’s experience?actually?illustrates?the company’s multi-pronged effort to “improve the sustainability of coffee farming.”

Throughout the piece, hyperlink to concrete, credible, verifiable evidence that proves Nestlé is making a real difference, on the ground.?Publish?this??alongside?several others. Why??One?story may?be an aberration. Two, a coincidence. Three, though,?reveals?a pattern. And body of evidence.

With impact, the mantra must be: Show, don't tell.?That’s our only hope to persuade any smart-but-skeptical audience: credible evidence presented transparently may touch the mind of a skeptic; humanizing content that spotlights our shared humanity may touch the heart of a skeptic. Combine the two, and you have my?persuasive?“one-two punch” of .

That said, these same principles can be applied to much more than . Is your company under pressure to?prove your impact in the field of Environmental, Social & Governance? Then I recommend . What about?proving your?impact in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion? Then generate some .

Similarly, for my colleagues in the non-profit sector, how many governmental and non-governmental?organizations – such as the various UN agencies and major NGOs – are now under pressure to achieve at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, by 2030? Or at least to demonstrate significant progress? Then show, don’t tell: with .

It's not just me who thinks "storytelling" is a smart solution for organizations; see the commentaries?here,?here,?here,?here,?here?and?here. Moreover, the neuroeconomist Paul Zak has even studied the science of storytelling: listening to a well-told story can release a neurochemical called oxytocin, which can "change our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors."

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Back in the corporate world, it’s not only?Nestlé?that needs?Sustainability Storytelling. Every company does, especially?today.?After all,?momentum?is clearly?building?within the ?and??movements.

Studies show that more consumers, investors and other stakeholders now demand that their preferred brands embrace Sustainability and ESG criteria, when exploiting resources, manufacturing, packaging, delivering or disposing of their products. So many business-watchers have weighed in on this growing priority; see the surveys here,?here,?here,?here,?here?and?here. Even staff are often skeptical of their own company's ESG efforts.

Moreover, industry regulators?will no longer accept only a company’s word for their Sustainability or ESG efforts, which they tout via platforms like their website and social-media channels. Instead, they’re pressing for real evidence.?A watchdog like?the Securities and Exchange Commission is sharpening its teeth with an?imminent new policy?that’ll require greater transparency in a company’s environmental- and social-impact reports.

In other words:?"Show us, don’t tell us, your efforts are truly effective. Even impactful."

Take the fashion industry, which is viewed as?one of the?world’s?most wasteful sectors. The New York State Assembly?may soon pass?the?Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, which?would?target every fashion company?in the state that generates at least $100 million in revenue.

Dry, data-driven Sustainability or ESG reports may satisfy investors, shareholders and regulators. But they're surely not suitable for consumers and other lay members of the public, who are surfing through your website and social-media channels. That's where storytelling can fill the void. Here’s another example.

Big-name brands like Levi's, H&M, Old Navy and others were recently?named-and-shamed?by the group?Remake Our World,?which spotlighted?the mounds of clothing waste strewn across?Chile’s Atacama Desert. The?social-media posts?spurred?negative reaction worldwide. Even media like?the BBC have reported?on this “graveyard for fast fashion.”

How could a fashion company?respond??Beyond the?obvious need?for short-term ,?I’d also recommend a?longer-term strategy of content-creation. As a team, define: What even constitutes "impact" as a result of our Sustainability or ESG activities? Simultaneously, identify: What form of credible evidence might prove that impact? Next, steadily compile that?credible evidence of impact. Illuminate that within fresh , to overcome skepticism.

For companies like?Levi’s, H&M and Old Navy, don’t just tell your audience “We’re doing X, Y and Z to recycle and?dispose of …” Show them. Assign your Communications team to profile someone “on the frontlines” of your recycling and disposal efforts. Paint a picture of what exactly that person is doing, why exactly they’re doing it, what exact results their efforts are yielding – and even what that person thinks and feels about the impactful work they're doing.

But again, don't just present this as a simple profile about this one worker. Are they unique, or do they represent a broader pattern or trend? Presumably, the latter. Clearly state what this person and their efforts symbolize, signaling to your audience that this story does indeed open a window onto something broader and more meaningful. Then, connect dots to The Big Picture of your company’s wider endeavors to recycle and dispose, both responsibly and sustainably.

We've already humanized your efforts; now insert hyperlinks to your credible evidence. That's the one-two punch.

Maybe all this sounds to you "easier said than done." No worries. My partner, Peter McLaughlin , and I are here to help. (More about both of us is flowed farther down.) We?offer trainings for?your?Communications,?Marketing and/or Sustainability?teams – workshops that?combine skills-building and practical application.

We'd lead this team step by step,?through the entire process of how to?craft?these?Impact Stories. We could produce them with your staff, shoulder to shoulder, as a "training-the-trainers" workshop: This way, we not only produce the content your company needs, but the staffers also learn how to produce such stories for themselves, down the road. Don't just give a hungry man a fish; show him how to fish! Right? That's our form of "sustainable training."

Or, we simply fish for you: if you don't have staff to spare, we could create content for you.

To get the ball rolling with your company, Peter and I offer a free, one-hour Consultation, in which we’d review your various platforms, like your website and social-media channels. Then, walk you through what a revamped Sustainability section might look like – with a new category atop your website labelled?Our Impact.?Among the questions we’d consider:

*For your smart-but-skeptical investors or customers, how effectively do you?prove?your Sustainability?

*With?more consumers concerned?about?ESG, how would?unconvincing?content affect your bottom line?

*How persuasively do you convince this audience today that your ESG efforts are as impactful as you suggest they are, through your current press-releases, corporate storytelling, social-media posts and marketing materials?

*With what credible evidence do you prove either your Sustainability or ESG? With what compelling content do you “show, not tell” it?

*How persuasively do you present your positive, evidence-driven?impact on?your various ESG partners?

*How effectively do you “humanize” yourself?and?your firm's motivations to achieve Sustainability?and ESG?

If either this free Consultation or our “Prove Your Sustainability & ESG Impact” training appeals to you, we’re ready to discuss them, anytime.

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Lastly, about us: Peter McLaughlin?and I are well-positioned to assist our clients, as we bring a unique, two-headed approach to solving this challenge. He’s?a?fashion-industry veteran,?who has been?a Creative Director for Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Kohl’s?and others. Yet Peter is also so committed to sustainability issues, he spent most of the early COVID era?earning?an actual?Master’s in Sustainability?from Harvard.

Meanwhile,?I’m a?Global Communications specialist?and former Foreign Correspondent, who reported from 30 countries over 20 years, from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Southern Africa – for media like Foreign Policy magazine; the French news agency, AFP; the Christian Science Monitor newspaper; and South Africa's leading daily, the Mail&Guardian.

Over time,?I?adapted my skillset to : from the investigative sleuthing for credible evidence of impact, to collecting enough relevant context, to weaving it all together within an illuminating story for foreign readers.

Over the?past decade, I’ve?designed and led trainings for scores of for-profit and non-profit clientele?in Africa,?China?and Europe.?I’ve also carried out Communications Consultancies where I created the content – as evidence-driven, often humanized narrative – and honed my own methodology.

Most memorable was a project I delivered while living for four years in the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho. An American NGO hired me to pinpoint the lasting impact of its five-year program to assist and their caregivers.

On the one hand, I interviewed and photographed 24 beneficiaries, then wrote their stories for?this digital e-book. On the other, I developed my own impact-centric interviewing and storytelling strategy, which I dubbed?The Fork in the Road?– and regularly share with audiences today.

After moving to China, I adapted the methodology to fresh, exciting challenges, with new, innovative storytelling approaches. Here are a trio of examples:

*For the International Labor Organization’s office in Beijing, I trained and coached their Chinese worker’s-rights experts to write first-person and third-person Impact Stories, like?this,?this?and?this.

*After winning a grant from the US Embassy in Beijing, I trained 20 Chinese environmentalists to craft their own story of “awakening,” to inspire others toward activism. Not only did I?create this website?to showcase their stories, but?Chinese media featured?my unique approach to?.

*For a language-learning company that sought to promote their new app, I myself interviewed clients to extract the app’s beneficial, cross-cultural impact. You can read a trio of samples?here,?here?and?here.

Though COVID forced me to flee China in 2020, from New York I’m adapting my toolkit to new challenges. For example,?I recently delivered?two trainings?for NGO activists world-wide,?on?how to generate that illuminates impact and?persuades skeptical donors.?I applied the same toolkit in?this Keynote speech?at an invest-in-China conference this summer, on how?Chinese companies can?produce evidence-driven stories to persuade foreign consumers, investors and other stakeholders.

In late September, I traveled to Geneva and delivered this two-day training?for the Communications team of the international NGO,?Medicines for Malaria Venture. A sizable portion of?that workshop focused on how to produce Impact Stories to spotlight the MMV’s positive impact on its African partners.

Next up:?On Dec. 1st, in a seminar for the Geneva Communicators Network – whose members span both the for-profit and non-profit spheres – I'll emphasize for for-profit attendees my skills and strategies to produce?.?Similarly, for colleagues in the non-profit sector, who face pressure from donors to achieve at least one of the 17?, I'll apply my toolkit to?.

Peter and I would be happy to do something similar for you and your organization.