Climate change communication strategies1

This chapter provides guidance to business professionals about how to think about and execute a corporate communication strategy about climate change. The chapter begins by making a case that businesses should be communicating about climate change because of the rapid acceleration of climate change and because of increasing focus on the topic from important constituency groups such as investors, governments, and employees. The chapter defines the objectives of climate change communications and proposes an iterative climate change dialogue framework; the framework has recommendations for key questions to ask and topics to consider pertaining to the corporation itself, the corporation's messages, constituencies, and constituents' messages. The chapter also discusses greenwashing and the risks to a corporation's brand value from disingenuous or misleading climate change communications.