Lobbying, Internal Alignment, and Boosting Your CompanyÍs Sustainability Impact

Authors

Diane Osgood, Ph.D.

This week's front page headline in Le Monde, “Industries Against the Greens: The Battle of Lobbying” calls out the growing resources aimed at lobbying on environmental issues in Beijing, Brussels, and Washington.

The numbers are hard to estimate because there is no complete database of lobbyists, and word on the street is that tens of thousands of lobbyist of all ilks stalk Brussels. There are, however, only 1,657 ”représentants d'intérêts” (representatives of interest) registered in Brussels. With the increased lobbying by both industry and environmentalist groups, the need for transparent and “responsible” lobbying from all sides is required.

Why register your lobbying efforts? There are many good reasons, but I will highlight only one: It forces internal alignment. We often find that internal alignment within multinational companies on matters of sustainability is difficult. Simply put, one hand is not aware of what the other hand is doing because it is so far away.

For example, a company’s R&D team may be developing low-carbon solutions for their new generation of products, while company lobbyists are hard at work trying to prevent any legislation that provides incentives for a low-carbon economy. Unfortunately, we see this a lot, and thus have concluded that a key component of any corporate sustainability policy needs to be internal alignment of policy, coupled with strong internal communication about what the company stands for—and why.

And here’s my plug: At the BSR Conference 2009, we’ll be addressing this issue with a session on internal communications and making the case for CSR’s value. In addition to learning the top five “do’s” and “don’ts” for communicating the value of CSR internally, you’ll hear from experts on how to effectively engage internal stakeholders and experience a range of available approaches, from in-person conversations to innovative web-based tools.

By focusing on internal alignment, you can free up resources and create significant support for your company’s sustainability initiatives, even in tough economic times.