20 valuable tips for online sustainability communications

What is the quality of your online sustainability communications? In 2005 Jungle Rating analyzed the state of affairs of sustainability reporting among Europe's largest companies. In this article we will provide you with 20 tangible tips.

What is the quality of your online sustainability communications? In 2005 Jungle Rating analysed the state of affairs of sustainability reporting among Europe’s largest companies. In this article we will provide you with 20 tangible tips.

Internet offers great potential

The internet offers great potential for improving the transparency of a company regarding sustainability issues compared to hard copy. Via the internet it is possible to improve the topicality of communication and to strengthen the interaction with the stakeholders. Jungle Rating provides 20 tips which will enhance the transparency, topicality and completeness of online sustainability reporting.

Guide the visitor through the website

A good navigation is essential in order to guide the visitor through the website. Next to that, interactive functionalities allow visitors to contact the company in multiple ways. The internet also enables the incorporation of images, sound and video on the corporate website.

We present eight essential website specific recommendations, regarding online sustainability information.

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Disclose the sustainability section within the main navigation	O
Provide a sustainability related FAQ and/or a glossary	O
Increase legibility of texts by making sure: Font size is at least 9 (Arial) and visitors can adjust it according to their preferences Long texts are provided with: headers, short paragraphs, bullets and anchoring.	O
Offer the visitor multiple ways to contact the company for sustainability related matters (mail, phone, address)	O
Stimulate visitors to give feedback on sustainability related issues	O
Be accurate and quick when answering questions by e-mail	O
Present multimedial elements (image, sound, video) on sustainability	O
Create a sustainability related newsletter and enable visitors to receive it on a regular base	O

Present extensive and topical sustainability information

Sustainability information comprises social, environmental and economic information. For online sustainability information Jungle Rating adheres to the distinction between qualitative and quantitative information, as proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

We hereby present twelve recommendations regarding sustainability information that should be available on every corporate website.

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Present your online report in one of the following formats: Segmented PDF format (preferable to a PFD-blob) Dynamic (image based) format HTML format	O
Provide information on the company’s market environment (competitors, market shares)	O
Provide news items on the sustainability landing page	O
Make sure case studies are not outdated and provide new ones regularly	O
Inform on sustainability activities by means of a calendar	O
Provide both qualitative and quantitative information on the reporting indicators as proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Explanation: Energy use can be described qualitatively by discussing the various sources of energy. On the other hand quantitative statements refer to the exact levels of energy being used.	O
Provide information on all three dimensions of sustainability (social, environmental, economic)	O
Inform on accomplishments compared to last year’s targets and performance	O
Offer a clear code of conduct in the sustainability section of the website	O
Provide online information on the sustainability goals and strategy for the upcoming years	O
Offer an online external and/or internal verification statement	O
Inform on the GRI indicators being used (comply or explain). We notice there is a tendency among the largest companies worldwide to report against the GRI indicators. However, not all indicators as proposed by the GRI might be relevant to your company. Therefore explain why your company does not report against a certain indicator	O

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For more information on our research:

Read the executive summary of the report ‘Sustainability reporting on the web’

For more information on the Global Reporting Initiative:

http://www.globalreporting.org/

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