Why ESG  is a story that tech brands need to be telling

ESG, on principle, is crucial for a brand to establish its messaging and accountability. It reflects the need for a company to acknowledge its issues and set clear targets for improvement. It also gives brands the opportunity to engage with complex societal issues and make a tangible difference for their workforce and the global community. This is where ESG has a critical role, and, if utilised correctly, the tech industry can step up and become a guiding force. 

Within 2023, people are looking for organisations to recognise the issues facing wider society openly, and accountability has become a huge selling point for brands. Ignoring the ongoing importance of ESG risks hurting your brand in the long run, damaging relationships between yourself, your team, and your clients. 

Communicating your ESG initiatives is crucial for leaders if they wish to inspire trust, create greater engagement, and grow their brand in 2023 and beyond, while simultaneously making a positive impact through their actions.

Responsibility

It’s essential we see tech brands acknowledge the issues facing both the wider community and the industry itself. Investing in ESG practices is a straightforward way to start this process. Curating a story through your ESG values gives your clients key insight into your company and creates the building blocks for a stronger relationship, while also boosting internal perceptions of your organisation with your team. 

ESG is designed to reflect the key issues impacting both the technology industry, your team, and the wider community; engaging with them and bringing them into your messaging is important if you want to tell the story of your brand properly.

Social issues, such as diversity in the workforce, remain a major issue within the technology industry. Recent research from Ensono, for example, has found that 1 in 4 women working in the UK tech industry have had their ideas dismissed in group settings, and 23% have experienced microaggressions in the workplace. Showing your employees that you’re dedicated to addressing these issues and supporting women through their careers with your ESG practices is crucial for two reasons: 

• First, it shows that your organisation is tuned into the wider social issues that your team are impacted by, such as the under-representation of women in STEM and gender discrimination in the workplace.
• Second, it shows that you’re actively taking the steps necessary to address these issues within your organisation. 

By working ESG into your comms programmes, you are effectively communicating to prospective employees that you are aware of the current issues that people are facing. However, rather than just acknowledge these, you’re showing that you’re actively working to address these to improve the experience for your team and, by extension, leading the way for other organisations to follow. 

However, moving beyond ESG into a fully-fledged story that clients and employees can get behind is a delicate task. Across the industry, we can see numerous brands taking a very careful stance with their ESG messaging: intentionally integrating it to create maximum impact. For example, in its 2022 ESG Report, Apple outlined its ‘planet-sized plan’ designed to convey its approach to sustainability. The section not only clearly shows the reader – and by extension its consumers, employees, and stakeholders – that Apple is acutely aware of the global issue of climate crisis but that it is proactively acting to reduce impact through its initiatives. For example, Apple switched to the Apple M1 chip for the 13-inch MacBook Pro and reduced the product’s carbon footprint by over 8%. By showcasing its current impact and roadmap to create positive change, Apple is using storytelling to take its ESG from policy into a message that inspires trust in the brand. 

As it currently stands, the tech industry is a major producer of greenhouse gases. Datacentres, for example, are on track to generate 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2030 and use 8% of global electricity. Ignoring these issues risks your organisation being perceived as ignorant of the role played by tech in a significant global problem. Creating a firm ruling on ESG, implementing these policies within your company, and communicating these effectively, shows your team, prospective candidates, clients, and prospective clients that you’re responding to important global issues, taking a stance, and working towards a solution – starting with your own practices. 
 

Becoming a force for good

With adversity striking on all fronts, people are looking for solutions to get behind and to work with the brands that are transparently acknowledging their role and taking the steps needed to drive change. Taking ESG and making it a priority at your organisation will position your brand as an industry leader that’s working towards setting an example and making the world a better place for all. 

Implementing ESG is only half the battle though. If you want to show your clients your proactivity, you need to have an effective communication strategy to tell that story. Showcasing your initiatives, their impact, and the reasoning behind them will encourage clients to engage with your brand beyond your products and support you and your core values. 

If you want to take your brand to the next level, get in touch today to find out how we can help guide you and create a greater impact with your ESG values.