Be aware of public concerns

1 The last 20 years have seen a huge increase in public concern over environmental issues. Every day newspapers are full of stories with an environmental angle – holes in the ozone layer, diminishing fish stocks, endangered species, destruction of the rainforests, increases in radiation levels, pollution of rivers and so on. It seems that, the entire human race is becoming more focused on the potential degeneration and ultimate destruction of the planet. Will future generations find us guilty of gross neglect and dereliction of our global duty? This is a question more and more people seem to be asking.

2 This sentiment is largely behind public outcry over two decisions taken in 1995 with major potential for impact on the environment – namely the resumption of nuclear testing by the French in the South Pacific and Shell’s decision to sea-dump its disused Brent Spar oil rig.

3 In both cases the powers that be completely misread the level of international dismay which greeted their decisions. The public determination to try and turn these decisions around by hitting those concerned in their pockets – by boycotting Shell petrol stations and refusing to buy French products – is another new phenomenon which corporations ignore at their peril when handling sensitive environmental issues. In Shell’s case, it was certainly a prime mover in making the company swiftly review its policy. Meanwhile, the French government faced increasing flak from its own electorate, and an already struggling economy felt the backlash from overseas buyers, irate at what they considered to be an arrogant and entirely intransigent French stance on the issue.

4 Reflecting the increase in public environmental awareness, national governments are learning to address a wide range of environmental issues through the introduction of new legislation to cover areas as diverse as improved effluent pollution controls to the protection of endangered birds and animals. It is fair to say that there has been more environmental legislation passed by UK and European Community (EC) governments in the last ten years than in the previous century. And this shows no signs of letting up as the pressure to improve environmental standards increases.

5 With this background of heightened public awareness and ever-growing legislation, it is essential for every commercial enterprise to be clear where it stands on the environmental issues which may affect its operations. The less enlightened will do the legal minimum and justify a reluctance to go further by quoting the extra costs involved. More intelligent companies will embrace the issues, make bold decisions and seize the environmental opportunities to gain a competitive edge.

6 Public relations can play a vital role in the management process on two counts when dealing with environmental issues. First, it is the antenna which provides management with information and monitors changing public attitudes to relevant environmental issues. Second, it can provide the communications advice and skills necessary to actively present a company’s environmental policy and actions to its target audiences.

7 However, just telling people may not be enough – as Brent Spar taught Shell. The comments of John Whybrew, corporate affairs director of Shell UK should be etched on the hearts of all public relations practitioners. He said, ‘What Brent Spar taught us is that being open isn’t sufficient when you are dealing with a highly sensitive decision. You’ve got to make more effort to listen as well as explain’.

8 This sentiment is reflected in Shell’s subsequent decision to invite suggestions from companies and the public to help dispose of the rig in a manner acceptable to the environment. It made a strong commitment to cooperate with Greenpeace whose misinformation, gladly regurgitated in the media, at first succeeded in making Shell’s management lose face so spectacularly when it decided to abandon sea-dumping at very short notice.

9 What a pity that a process of public consultation wasn’t embarked upon in the first place, scoring lots of brownie points with the public at the same time. By demonstrating awareness of publics concerns, Shell could have at least been seen to have openly considered all the options, even if at the end of the exercise sea-dumping was scientifically shown to be the best means of disposal from an environmental point of view. It would have been much more difficult to mount a sustainable argument against the company in those circumstances.

Chemicals industry – in the limelight

1 Naturally, some industrial sectors are in the ‘environmental limelight’ more than others. The chemicals industry, which reeled after the terrible 1984 incident in Bhopal, India, where a gas leak from the Union Carbide chemical plant over 2000 people, is an example of an industry which has acted positively to address public concerns.

2 Largely via an initiative from its own trade body, the Chemical Industries Association (CIA), the UK chemical has got the message and is actively encouraging companies to take initiatives to boost their standing in the local community by improving manufacturing processes, reducing emissions and embracing local environmental issues.

3 The ‘Responsible Care’ programme introduced a few years ago and adopted by many of CIA’s members actively encourages open communication with employees and the public on issues such as site improvements and associated environmental issues. A new sense of openness is prevailing with more enlightened chemical companies creating local liaison groups and annual plant open days for one and all to attend. High on the agenda are environmental issues such as effluent controls, smells and noise emissions which directly affect local people.

4 Many chemical companies have embarked on joint ventures with community groups and local authorities to improve the environment in and around their sites, particularly by cleaning up rivers. Cooperative activities with local Groundwork Trust charity groups are a splendid example of the local community, local authority and company employees working together to improve the environment in the local community.

5 By acting in a proactive way, participating chemical companies in the Responsible Care programme are demonstrating that they understand the concerns of the public and have taken corporate governance a stage further by not just paying ‘lip-service’ to legislation. Having worked with such firms over the years, I am encouraged by the effectiveness of this approach, which is generating better understanding all round.

The Rhône-Poulenc initiative

1 In 1995, BRAHM Public Relations was successful in winning the Issues and Crisis Management category in the Institute of Public Relations Sword of excellence Awards for a long-term issues and crisis management campaign involving leading manufacturer of agricultural chemicals, Rhône-Poulenc Agriculture.

2 Like all similar manufacturers, Rhône-Poulenc has faced a steady flow of criticism over the years from pressure groups over issues such as the possibilities of pesticide* residues in food, chemicals in rivers and water courses, spray drift from farmers applying pesticides and so on. These are all genuine environmental concerns, but often overstated, particularly when unchallenged or not compared with the benefits these products provide to improve productivity and reduce food prices. During the mid-1980s, the sum total of these concerns led to increasing demands in some sectors for a return to organic farming methods – which do not permit the use of synthetic chemicals to enhance growth, destroy pests*, weeds and fungi** – to replace more conventional farming methods which do.

3 Seeing this as a real issue which could affect its environmental credentials as well as its long-term future, the company acted quickly. By utilizing a research farm it manages at Ongar, Essex, called Boarded Barns Farm, it decided to split the land in two and farm one half organically and the other by conventional means. The purpose was to directly compare the two different types of farming, and measure farm economics, environmental impact and the wholesomeness of finished produce.

4 To ensure fair play, the company appointed independent advisers from government, academic and environmental bodies to audit the project – known as The Rhône-Poulenc Farm Management Study – and its activities on a regular basis. A freely-available annual report details the results and comparisons, and the farm is now visited by hundreds of interested visitors annually – including the media. The openness if this approach has helped to correct many misunderstandings about modern farming methods and provide genuine data to compare the relative values of both types of farm management systems on the same site.

5 Since it was started in 1989, the project has completed environmental studies on the effects the two farming systems have on field and margin (borders) flora, farmland arthropods*** (spiders), aphid**** populations, slug populations and wheat diseases. Longer term environmental studies continue to examine solid and water residues, bird populations, small mammals, butterflies, soil microbes, dragonflies, moths*****, earthworms, weeds and beneficial insects.

6 By going into such depth, Rhône-Poulenc has become much better informed on these issues, made a lot of new friends and established useful links with conservation organizations hitherto suspicious of modern arable farming methods. Likewise, the company has learned a lot about alternative farming methods and can speak with authority on these issues whenever they are publicly debated. By embracing sensitive environmental concerns from the public and pressure groups, rather than combating them, Rhône-Poulenc has won recognition and, as a provider of reliable facts and data, has enhanced its own standing within its industry and with the public at large.

7 Evidence that the findings have been credibly received by the project’s target audiences has been demonstrated by the use of statistical data, derived from one of the Rhône-Poulenc Farm Management Study’s Annual Reports in a House of Lords debate on the future of British agriculture. Additionally, a delegate from the Soil Working Group of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution visited the farm as part of its evidence-gathering programme.

8 Rhône-Poulenc has been sufficiently convinced of the success of this project to announce a further extension to it by the lease of additional land adjacent to Boarded Barns Farm on which it is intended to undertake an integrated crop management study. This will produce results directly comparable with the conventional and organic data, and should carry forward the debate on food production and associated environmental issues to new dimensions.

9 Integrated crop management is a crop husbandry system which aims to be equally as profitable as conventional farming, but with special emphasis on inputs, crop rotations, cultivation and monitoring to achieve a more focused approach to pest control. It uses biotechnology, genetic engineering and nature’s own pest controls – such as ladybirds to control aphids – where appropriate.

10 This new type of system is one which environmental benefits are positively sought, and as such is at the forefront of modern agricultural research. By taking on this additional study, Rhône-Poulenc has once again been seen to take the lead in exploring the latest developments in farming and the environment.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 582