A Corporate Communicators Call to Action

Your conversations about climate change can’t be about planting trees anymore.

by Joe Householder

In its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, the United States Department of Defense officially recognized climate change as a major concern in national security planning. While the issue had been long discussed among military planners, this step set in motion an effort to seriously game out the next order impacts of the phenomenon. The resilience of the nation’s defense infrastructure, the heightened risk of conflict in certain regions of the world,  and the overall posture of our defense forces to respond were among the many issues now being contemplated.

Ideally, these assessments were conducted without concern for the fractious politics of the matter because, when you’re talking about the survivability of the United States petty politics that prefers to ignore science should become immaterial. Today, nearly a decade and a half later, the commercial world and those who communicate for it really must wake up to the same reality.

Let me pause for a moment for a side note: This is not an essay about ESG. It’s not about wokeism or defending commitments to combat climate change. It’s not about planting trees or painting the office building white or buying a boatload of carbon credits and pretending all is well.  

What this is about is thinking objectively through the real commercial and communications implications of the crisis as it exists and advising C-Suite leadership appropriately. Like the DOD of 2010, a thoughtful communicator has a duty to tune out the noise from those who pretend nothing’s happening, think through the second and third order impacts that will hit the business, and assess as well as plan for the communications challenges attendant to all of it. 

It’s not about planting trees and pretending all is well.

Look to the U.S. insurance industry and its behavior in recent months. In July, Farmers Insurance joined what is becoming a mass exodus of insurance companies from Florida. It’s an exodus prompted by the industry’s inability to thrive in a state where the climate-change driven uptick of natural disasters has led to a massive uptick in insurance claims.  

The company’s communications were simple and direct – pointing to the need to manage its risk exposure in the state. For other industries, the through line for communications may not be as clear, but it is still time to start having focused and meaningful discussions about your company’s climate risk profile.

Naturally, it’s time for a meeting – maybe even slides

I’d recommend a c-suite directed cross-functional exercise bringing in leaders from Operations, Government Relations, Legal, HR and other disciplines (including objective external advisors) to run through what amounts to a list of simple questions with potentially elusive answers:

• What business operations will face new risks/challenges/costs as the impacts of climate change add up in the markets we serve?

• Are there any markets we serve where the costs may exceed the benefits of being there (as in the case of Florida P&C insurers)?

• What changes are we already contemplating to our operations because of these impacts and what changes must we begin contemplating?

• What stakeholders are impacted and how should we prioritize them based on our current knowledge of the impacts?

• What are the reputational, policy, internal, customer, and investor risks of taking these actions?

• Can we put any of this on a timeline?

There are likely more questions, but when you get through this discussion, you, as a communicator, will be better prepared to draft an initial strategic communications plan. 

Yes, a few people will get pissed

I get that this might be a little scary to some of you – particularly those of you in consumer facing businesses, or who receive state government contracts from politicians who like to punish companies for accepting certain elements of reality. But just because my sister’s boyfriend in Alabama who buys your products is going to ruefully shake his head at you, that doesn’t negate the certainty of change that is barreling down on your business. These are stakeholders you’ll have to address and that’s got to be part of the process, but being frightened off by them is not the answer. 

Companies have been forced to adjust to this sort of thing before – perhaps never on this scale – but the Great Depression, and World War II are just two examples that show it isn’t an entirely unique phenomena. As in those past cases, some industries will be going away, some will be irrevocably altered, some new ones will be invented, and some will be outrageously profitable. 

Like the insurance industry in recent months, and the DOD over the past 13 years, it’s now time to accept the reality that the disruption caused by record-breaking temperatures and an upswing in natural disasters is here for the long haul. Your company will change and will have to communicate differently no matter what you believe and no matter what you’d prefer. As in all things, preparedness drives effectiveness.

It’s time to get moving. 

In 2000, after more than 15 years as a broadcast journalist focused on local and state politics and governance, Joe Householder joined an international law firm, establishing its first-ever external and litigation communications operation. From there, he entered politics as a senior-level strategist in municipal campaigns as well as the 2002 reelection of then Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. Later, Joe served as communications director to then United States Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton before joining Public Strategies for his first stint as a corporate and crisis communications and public affairs strategist. He is currently an Executive Vice President at BCW.

---

We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment. 

We’ve also got a tip jar, and I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is how I have fun.

Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House.