Getting the Message Across: A Proactive Environmental Communication Strategy — Dow Europe

‘There is too much information but not enough dialogue’ (Dow Europe manager, 1994) The public image of a company can act as a key lever in changing its core values and environmental management strategy. To earn public trust, a company must both improve its environmental performance and develop a wide range of communications and dialogue initiatives. Some, like Dow Europe, whose US-based mother company, The Dow Chemical Company, has been under fire for many years, even achieve environmental excellence and create a new business unit in environmental management services, ‘Dow Environmental Inc.’. By building bridges to encourage dialogue with key stakeholders, Dow Europe has promoted effective initiatives and has used appropriate tools to transmit targeted information. At the same time, the company has developed an influential voice in setting the environmental agenda.