Communicating Sustainability: Quantifying, Qualifying, and Celebrating Climate Impact Achievements

Every step toward a more sustainable future is important, from setting high goals at the outset of a new design project to accelerating progress throughout the process. Wherever a company or brand may be on its sustainability journey, telling the story of impact in a way that is both authentic and transparent is increasingly crucial. The challenge is often translating technical subject matter for diverse — and sometimes polarized — audiences.

Investments in sustainability, once installed or implemented, tend to be invisible. No one can see the toxic materials that were excluded, nor can they see the company’s carbon footprint and how it was reduced. Yet it’s a subject that’s clearly important to clients and consumers: according to the Gensler Research Institute’s 2023 Global Climate Action Survey, 66% of people surveyed believe the world is not taking enough action to address climate change. And in a NielsenIQ study from 2023, 78% of respondents said that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them.

Here are five things to keep in mind when telling your sustainability story:

1. Recognize the importance of visual communication.
Some companies have a huge head start owning mindshare in this space, and the job can seem impossible when starting from a pile of specialist documentation. This is where communications strategy and graphic design comes in: a strong program can translate something complicated or highly technical into messaging, infographics, and impactful visuals that an organization can own, whether it’s being written into a new employee value proposition or going viral on social media.

2. Know your audience.
The success of a sustainability communications program will be driven by its ability to resonate with different audiences. If a brand is highly visible and casts a wide net, it may need to appeal to the general public — people who can be plotted on a broad spectrum when it comes to understanding climate action challenges and the importance of working toward a more sustainable future. When trying to capture the public's attention, it helps to think in terms of messages that might create “buzz” in the media, which often relies on creative thinking about what’s been achieved. Helping journalists to understand and articulate a company’s vision can extend messaging range and impact even further.

Depending on the brand and its audience, B2B customers and clients may be more informed and aware, or less — or a mix of both. Hopefully, employees and stakeholders will already be aware of a company’s brand mission and values; they will want to know how a sustainability initiative will help deliver on the promise of these strategic components specifically. For developers and property owners, audiences may include those who commission the work as well as those who will need to explain the sustainability undertakings to others — financial or joint-venture partners, or other experts who will help to validate efforts.

3. Get aligned internally on overall climate action strategy.
Often a sustainability effort is dispersed across various internal stakeholders — ESG, real estate, product development, marketing, etc. Bringing these groups together to align on the message and the most salient facts can generate outsized benefits. Whether focused on strategy, analytics, or certification, or all three, a robust approach can help organizations or communities achieve carbon targets and sustainability goals across a variety of metrics. A knowledgeable partner — especially one that understands how technical and regulatory challenges can impact business strategy — can deliver usable, engaging information about how investments make buildings, campuses, and regions more resourceful, resilient, and regenerative. But wherever the strategy lands, it’s important that it's authentic and based on real action that generates meaningful impact, and not just a PR or marketing effort.

4. Paint a clear picture for each audience.
Once a company has established a strong sustainability strategy, bringing it to life for employees, customers, and the wider world will multiply its impact. That might mean creating a unique name and brand platform that can be used to identify all sustainability efforts, or developing campaign strategies and messaging to highlight specific aspects. Stories and the right data help to make the subject less abstract or foreboding; striking the right tone of voice is key to ensuring the message is relatable and authentic to the brand.

5. Deliver it in a memorable and visually compelling package.
A unique visual language can help create a “sticky” campaign — digital or physical materials that will capture attention and stay in the hearts and minds of users, customers, employees, and constituents. Utilizing communication channels, such as social media platforms, can have broad impact; dedicated physical experiences allow for more control and deeper engagement. Throughout, the use of digital tools such as video, animation, and augmented reality are great ways to illustrate those “invisible” investments and outcomes.

One example of all five of these elements coming together is San Francisco International Airport. Following Gensler's successful development of new sustainable planning and design guidelines, we increased passenger, partner, and employee engagement by creatively communicating the next-generation sustainability measures being implemented throughout the airport.

Prioritizing and distilling highly technical information to create a flexible system of bite-sized, compelling stories, the campaign highlights the airport’s ambitious sustainability projects through a whimsical design approach that makes the information approachable, meaningful, and relevant.

The team organized the breadth of SFO’s sustainability efforts into three “hero” stories: On Board for Zero Carbon, Zero Waste, and Wellbeing. These stories come to life as color-coded, eye-catching, and quickly digestible moments that live on digital monitors, posters, and construction barricades, as well as across social media platforms, for easy sharing. Animation and movement help to capture attention in digital media, but the graphic language works just as well in static formats.

The project required extensive research and coordination with stakeholders at SFO to identify the specific messages they wanted to convey within each hero story, gather accurate data points that translate into engaging statistics, and connect the data to whimsical imagery.

A more hands-on digital experience can be found at the North American regional business support center for TK Elevator (TKE), a global leader in elevators, escalators, and moving walks. Located in metro Atlanta, the ground floor space features more than 20 digital touchpoints that display the innovative, behind-the-scenes world of elevator engineering, and celebrate the brand's purpose: providing sustainable solutions for urban mobility. The science museum-like experience welcomes students, executives, developers, decision-makers, new recruits, and even the public into the space, providing a unique setting for bringing the TKE brand to the US market in a more experiential way.

The design highlights the research, innovation, safety, quality, and sustainability behind TKE's products and services, using animation, video, physical models, and curated views into multi-floor test labs. The space demonstrates how private companies can effectively open their doors to the community to create connection and celebrate sustainability achievements. By putting R&D efforts and smart technologies on full display, the space reflects a broader trend of brands increasing transparency by giving consumers a behind-the-scenes look at how products are developed and made, and cultivating trust from the communities they serve.

Articulate strategy. Demonstrate values. Multiply impact.
Doing the right thing environmentally is increasingly vital for every organization. Getting credit for the effort and expense ensures a return on the investment. Millennials and gen Z often align their values to their pocketbooks, and their brand loyalty is based on a company’s sustainable values; what’s more, they increasingly want to work for purpose-driven companies that align with their values. Well-explained, holistic sustainable experiences are the foundation of innovative new customer and employee experiences that keep people healthy, happy, and coming back.