Specialist editors from FT Longitude’s Climate and Natural Capital desk discuss emerging sustainability themes through a thought leadership lens.
At our recent sustainability thought leadership seminar, we unpacked how thought leadership helps marketers and brands engage business audiences with credible, research-backed insights amid scepticism towards ESG and superficial sustainability efforts. In this editorial deep dive, editors from our Climate and Natural Capital desk discuss how businesses can cut through the noise and help shape the debate around climate change. Here’s what they told us.
Our editors
5 takeaways for differentiated sustainability thought leadership
Your perspective on climate change is relevant even if your track record on sustainability isn’t perfect: thought leadership is about the future, not the past.
Identify an intersection of specific themes that you can speak to with authority: avoid the general and all-encompassing.
Foreground diverse voices in your ideation and research as well as in your content.
Don’t try to keep all of your stakeholders happy all of list of honduras cell phone numbers the time: it’s not possible, and it will just make your content bland.
Make room for positivity and innovation within the broader discussion about climate change, but don’t try to sugar-coat reality either.
The following Q&A was part of our recent sustainability event at our home at FT Longitude HQ in Bracken House, London.
Watch the full session – A sustainable story: How to avoid the green backlash and make a positive impact – including more practical insight from our campaign strategists and industry leaders on demand here.
Piers: Everyone wants to create research that resonates in the media, avoiding pitfalls like being teased for jargon or accused of greenwashing. One challenge businesses face is the broad, multifaceted nature of sustainability and climate change, which makes it easy to get lost. Laura, as someone who works with businesses in thought leadership, how can they navigate this?
Laura: The most important starting point is to define your niche and speak to your strengths. Clients often want to do a general report on sustainability, but that’s ineffective. You need to be specific and define your position. This means understanding what value you can add to the topic, focusing on trends, and having a clear purpose. For example, we worked on a campaign with a major technology firm, not typically seen as an authority on climate, but they positioned their story around how data and AI can accelerate the transition to net zero. This credible standpoint inspired change and demonstrated how to move beyond inaction.
Our editors’ perspectives on how to avoid the green backlash
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