58: Decoding Sustainability Communications: Blanca Civit Sarda, World Benchmarking Alliance

ShownotesDid you know that we are already two years, into the 'Decade of Action' - which calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to meet the SDGs. This is the decade of reporting, on where we are; what we have achieved; and what still needs to be done as we race towards the finish line. Also, there is increased scrutiny on the contribution or lack of by multinational enterprises in achieving the SDGs; the side projects which are great PR but not much else...... My guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast, this week Blanca Civit Sarda from the World Benchmarking Alliance talks about sustainability and sustainability communications. We also spoke about........πŸ‘‰πŸΎ The importance of understanding the science and language around sustainability πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Green washing, blue washing, rainbow washing....The proliferation of misinformation and challenges it creates for addressing real issues around environment and sustainabilityπŸ‘‰πŸΎ The UK Green Claims Code πŸ‘‰πŸΎ The challenge of breaking through the noise and sifting through the monumental data overload for impactπŸ‘‰πŸΎ The intrinsic link between inclusion and sustainability for a 'Just Transition'πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Why collective purpose and collective action are critical to achieving the SDGs....We also spoke about Blanca's journey, the challenges she faced with Dutch or English not being her first language as she worked in different countries; her take on leadership and advice to aspiring women leaders. What she said really resonated with me, especially this one 'Speak out, don't stay silent because you don't change the world by staying silent'

Memorable Passages from the episodeπŸ‘‰πŸΎ Thank you. Thanks for your time and this interview. πŸ‘‰πŸΎ So I'm originally from Reus, a small city in Catalonia, not so far from Barcelona.I was born and raised there and studied there. Also at my university, I studied a bachelor's in journalism and one in advertising and then later a masters in corporate communications and PR, public relations for the ones who hear PR. And I do work now at the World Benchmarking Alliance as the communications and earned media lead, being part of the communications team but also taking care of the press office.And my background is in public relations but also journalism, different sectors; corporate sector, financial sector across the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Spain. So quite a pan-European focused experience on mainly the corporate sector. And now I work in a nonprofit, so the World Bench Marking Alliance is a nonprofit organisation that looks at incentivising companies into taking action towards sustainable development goals and sustainability in general. So it's very interesting what communicating sustainability can be about.πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Well, first it's important to define what sustainability means in the context of your own communications role. And that depends a lot on whether you represent another company or an investor a nonprofit or a government project. And I worked for all of them and I can assure you that these are all four very different ways of communicating sustainability. Maybe one will require more proactive media campaigns, for example, or another will focus on consumers or risk and crisis communications. So sustainability is also a very broad and complex topic. So I think the most important is that you believe in the project...