Can we change the world one conversation at a time? Interview with Virginia Cinquemani, sustainability communication expert

A couple of years ago, I ditched flying and travelled by train and ferry to Ibiza for a friend’s birthday. The conversations were awkward. I felt defensive. And I worried people thought I was silently judging them for continuing to fly. But, as time went on, I learned to communicate my plans and share my journey in an optimistic, more engaging way. As a result, the conversations shifted and I even inspired some friends to choose the train instead of the plane for their European trips.  

Turns out I could have got there a whole lot quicker if I’d read Virginia Cinquemani’s new book, The Good Communicator, first. I chatted to her about her role as a sustainability communication expert and how she coaches sustainability professionals to change the world, one conversation at a time. 

The challenge of communicating sustainability 

‘Sustainability’ might be a buzzword today, but thirty years ago it barely featured in our vocab. Back in the 90s, an architecture lecturer planted a seed in Virginia’s mind, which lay dormant for a few years before starting to grow and Virginia gradually realised the architecture industry wasn’t addressing sustainability effectively — construction is currently estimated to account for 37% of greenhouse gases.

As her career progressed, Virginia gained a master's in energy efficiency and sustainable buildings. She also became a sustainability consultant for a big consultancy firm. But there was one problem that kept turning up. Highly skilled technical professionals had environmental messages to share but were struggling to communicate them powerfully and engagingly to stakeholders. Disillusioned, many felt like giving up. 

When so many people come to the sector with a vocation, it can be easy to become disheartened when your actions don’t get the results you hope for. 

Virginia founded The Green Gorilla seven years ago to coach her sustainability colleagues to gain the tools they need to communicate ESG themes powerfully and encourage the behavioural change we so desperately need. I caught up with Virginia to talk about her work, which has culminated in her second book, The Good Communicator. 

The problems of sustainability communication are universal

‘Sustainability is relevant to every sector and the problems are quite universal, Virginia tells me. From construction companies and marketing professionals to medical suppliers and even vets, she has noticed the same problems popping up.

Often, sustainability leaders and professionals struggle to upsell sustainability services beyond the bare minimum. It’s human nature to look at things on a short-term basis, but this means bosses and clients overlook the long-term benefits of making their company more sustainable. Many just see it as a box-ticking exercise.  

Sustainability professionals are often very technically minded —  an essential skill when you’re developing solutions to complex problems. But this can lead to them getting bogged down in technical details, rather than focusing on the benefits to their audience. 

Face-to-face human communication —  in meetings, presentations, conferences —  is so effective and gives us a huge opportunity to change the world. Virginia realised that while we’re lucky to have a lot of content to help us communicate in writing, there’s not a whole lot out there about verbal communication, so she wrote her book to help experts become better sustainability communicators, one conversation at a time.

The power of co-creation

So how can sustainability professionals learn to communicate more effectively? While writing her book, Virginia made a major discovery —  we achieve the best results when we co-create solutions with our audience rather than telling people our point of view as experts. 

It might be human nature to start with our values or the product we’re trying to sell, but listening and collaborating leads to greater buy-in and better long-term results.

‘You need to start by listening to and interacting with your audience. If this is the general public then don’t use jargon or complex language otherwise they won’t understand. If it’s a board of directors then focus on money and positioning, not technical aspects,’ says Virgina.

Busting the ‘expensive sustainability’ myth

There’s one pervasive myth that can make communicating sustainability challenging —   that sustainability carries a price premium. ‘But this is outdated,’ says Virginia. Take solar panels: in the 90s, homeowners wouldn’t see any pay-back from their investment in their lifetime, so they were a harder sell. But today you can start to get a return on investment in five to 10 years. 

While some more sustainable materials and products are pricy, there are so many affordable alternatives on the market. As these get adopted by the mainstream, they’ll get cheaper still and we’ll be even closer to that positive tipping point where more people truly believe in striving for a better, more sustainable world. This in turn will influence others to make more ethical choices.

Yes, time is running out, but negativity gets us nowhere fast. When we push our point of view onto others, it can have the opposite effect (as I can very much testify!). Instead, we should put judgement aside, ask questions, be curious, show a genuine interest and be helpful. We are, after all, a social species. If we can normalise sustainability through social validation rather than preaching, then we can make progress.

Want to know more about how you can become a better sustainability communicator? You can find Virginia’s book The Good Communicator in all good bookstores and follow her on LinkedIn for more communication tips and events.