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Communicating sustainability successfully through your corporate website?


Richard Dixon


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Sustainability is a critical focus for your key stakeholders. A vital resource for investors and analysts to assess sustainability commitments and tracking performance, and for employees to understand and associate with the long term purpose and wider contribution to society by the company they are looking to work for.

Black Sun designs and manages corporate websites and sustainability reports and communications for many of the world’s largest organisations. We also conduct analyses of the different stakeholder groups, their needs of digital communications and the latest trends in what good looks like.

Here are the key facts you need to include in your sustainability website and wider digital channels:


1.        Clarity of purpose and commitment

Sustainability is increasingly integrated into the overarching corporate narrative. It is therefore vital to ensure that your sustainability is:

  • Purpose led: with your approach to sustainability directly connected and driven from your purpose, giving a clear line of site from why you exist as an organization to your approach and impact from sustainability.
  • Strategic clarity: being very clear on your sustainability strategy and your focus areas.
  • Explain how you engage with stakeholders: stakeholders are your key audience, explaining how you engage with them, what’s important to them and ow you will address these challenges is key to show direct connection between your sustainability activities and their impact. Now 96% of companies address stakeholder engagement – recognizing the importance of doing so.
  • Long-Term Goals: Share your future sustainability objectives, showing stakeholders your vision for continuous improvement. Highlight the company’s dedication to long-term environmental, social, and economic impact.
  • Measurable targets: by clearly communicating your sustainability objectives and how you will measure success which in turn enables you to measure and communicate performance.

2.        Materiality and focus matter

You need to be absolutely clear on those issues that are the most important:

  • Be clear on your material issues – ie the issues that matter most and that have the greatest impact on your business – is key. Make sure you communicate your materiality process, how you arrived at the material issues and explain why they are important to you.
  • Share focus areas: through your website you will want to communicate your focus areas for the business – scope, approach and targets.
3.        Communicate outcomes and impacts

It is no coincidence that increasingly companies are calling their sustainability sections ‘Our Impact’. This is because there is a seismic shift underway from simply talking about the strategy and approach to evidencing the impact and outcomes. Here’s what we are seeing

  • Case studies and stories: that share stories of the sustainability strategy in action and evidence the contribution made for specific material issues or focus areas. Enable users to filter and sort the stories by the material topic or focus area to deepen engagement and encourage further reading
  • Sustainability Reports: Comprehensive, transparent reporting is crucial for maintaining credibility and keeping stakeholders informed. Regular sustainability reports and case studies help to build trust and demonstrate commitment. Share detailed, accessible reports on the company’s sustainability journey.
  • Data books: so that analysts and investors can see performance over time, and increasingly can download excels to incorporate easily into their analysis tools.
  • Data online: forward thinking companies are also providing their performance data in tables and charts within their website. Users are able to view and manipulate the data online and download the charts and data for their own analytical use. . 93% (a 23% increase year on year) of companies publish recent sustainability data, showcasing a strong commitment to real-time, accessible reporting.
4.        Create an engaging story

It is too easy for sustainability content to be dry text based content, with stats and tables. The purpose of your website however is to communicate the overarching narrative, to engage stakeholders in your approach, material issues and progress. Create an engaging experience that draws users in.

  • Visuals: Use photos, videos, and infographics to make these reports more engaging and accessible. This helps stakeholders connect with the company’s sustainability efforts.
  • Clarity in Presentation: Present data in an easily digestible format, using graphs, tables, and charts to enhance understanding and foster transparency
  • Authenticity: Be honest about progress and challenges. It’s vital to maintain authenticity and avoid greenwashing—misleading claims about environmental efforts that can damage a company’s reputation. Being transparent, honest, and precise about your sustainability journey builds trust and credibility with stakeholders. Avoid overstatement and provide clear evidence for your claims. 84% of analysts agree that a poor website can harm investment decisions, meaning an inauthentic or misleading sustainability message can result in negative stakeholder reactions.
5.       Leverage social media

With the growth in reporting content through new regulations such as CSRD, it is ever more important to use digital channels to deliver your sustainability narrative, share performance and communicate outcomes. Social media has a vital role to play in reaching and engaging your stakeholders. Create a social media plan that delivers both a mix of content and media forms (infographics, video etc) that will sustain your content over the year. Much of this content is already created through the reporting process and can be reformed in different media forms for social media.

By incorporating these elements, corporate websites can create a comprehensive, transparent, and engaging sustainability section that builds trust with stakeholders and showcases their commitment to sustainable development. Doing so will deliver immediate benefits for all your stakeholders. 43% of investors say websites can influence investment decisions, it’s clear that a well-structured sustainability section can make a significant impact. Prospective employees view this content to gauge your long term contribution to society and whether the company is committed to sustainability. Business partners and customers need this content to assure their own sustainability strategy and make business decisions based on this information. So creating an engaging and effective sustainability narrative will have direct commercial benefits.

View more on how companies are performing in our Digital Index

See how we create corporate websites to communicate sustainability 


How does your sustainability site stack up?

If you'd like us to review your corporate website, do get in touch - we can assess its performance against our Digital Index of best practice.


About Black Sun

Black Sun Global is a stakeholder advisory and engagement agency that's been driving transformation and positive change for ambitious brands for more than 20 years. With deep expertise in disclosure and reporting, ESG, sustainability, and digital engagement, we reshape how organisations connect with customers, investors, employees, and the wider world. 

We are trusted partners to some of the most influential global organisations, sparking innovation and sustainable performance through our strategic insights, partnerships, and proprietary technologies.

As founders of the Positive Change Group, we are on a mission to create a new kind of stakeholder relations partner. Our world-class specialists work closely with executive leadership teams to protect reputations, inspire trust, and promote responsible business practices - building resilience and long-term value in a rapidly changing world.

For more information, please visit: www.blacksun-global.com





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