Why does a company communicate? How are companies — and especially American companies who work under the distinctive carbon war conditions of American democracy — communicating their climate change and sustainability strategies?

My experience convinces me that the goal of corporate communication is to assist, and in many respects to lead, in the creation of stakeholders who are needed to affirm management's right to compete successfully in the marketplace. Create stakeholders, beat competitors — to my way of thinking, after observing the work of a lot of successful public relations people, that is ongoing job one. It is the job that wraps around every aspect of enterprise, that engages the chief communications officer with all others in top management and to add value in decision making and execution. As to how this key-to-success is put to work: as fully, consistently, honestly, transparently and effectively as possible to lock in with stakeholders and therefore go most of the way toward accomplishing ongoing job one.

To raise stakeholder trust, turn around critics and beat the competition, communication of the company's climate change and sustainability strategies will use proven guidelines on sustainability Web sites, in print and in presentations by company spokespersons:

Tell the company story in terms that each stakeholder group will understand;

Tell the whole story, the good and the bad; and

Prove your commitments and claims with data, examples and verifications.

The essential questions to be answered are: Does this show that we understand each stakeholder's interest and expectation? Does this prove that we are addressing, relevant to our mission, the social and economic (and probably, through public policy positions, political) issues that come within our accountability to our business and our stakeholders?