Meet our Team Leads: Jonas Kiesekoms, Head of Communication

For more than 20 years, Pantarein has been building the sustainable world of tomorrow as a consulting firm. Our growing team assists various companies in their ESG trajectories. At the helm of the projects are our team leads: senior consultants with tons of experience. But who are they, and what drives them? They will tell us all about this in our ‘meet our team leads’ mini-series. Here, you will get to know Jonas Kiesekoms, Head of Communication.

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January 20, 2025

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Communication is often seen as the last step in an ESG journey, but you disagree. Why is this, exactly?

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“Many organizations do indeed fall into that trap. They involve their communication colleagues too late, and then you get exactly what I try to avoid at all times: a story that is interchangeable with that of your competitors. A story that makes you think: I’ve heard that one before. Boring uniformity, in other words. That is a shame. After all, every company puts a lot of time and energy into its ESG process.”

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“Communication is of great strategic value, as long as you start it on time. That’s the punchline of Pantarein’s sustainability storylines: right after the double materiality analysis, my team joins the table. We scrutinize the sustainability and communication goals together: which target groups do we want to reach, which strategic topics make the difference, etc.? Then our copywriters and designers work out the storyline in minute detail, in both words and images. And voilà, you arrive at the sustainable narrative; the starting point of your ESG strategy.”

How can companies use the sustainable narrative to put that strategy into practice?

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“They can use it as a handle on their communications, starting with people on the shop floor. After all, the real sustainable transformation happens there, and not in the boardroom. To implement change successfully, you have to meet two conditions: people have to be open to it, and they have to be capable of it. It’s about being willing and able to change. Creating and increasing the will to change: that is what me and my team focus on. The ability to change is precisely what the team of Anke (Head of ESG Implementation at Pantarein) is working on. For example, she helps companies roll out ESG tracks. An effective ESG policy emerges on both tracks – Anke’s roadmap and my commitment.”

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“We involve employees in the sustainability storyline in various ways. Webinars and learning modules are useful to increase knowledge, kick-off events promote engagement, and regular communication through company channels ensures constant visibility of the sustainability storyline. The ESG approach should become the new normal, and the sustainability storyline plays a facilitating role in this.”

How do you involve external stakeholders in your ESG story?

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“The demand for greater transparency and insight continues to grow: external stakeholders want to know what a company’s ESG ambitions and efforts are. At Pantarein, we think it is important that external communication also has a solid foundation. We usually work out the overall picture, from the sustainability storyline, through the annual communication plans, to the final communication tools. We also support companies with a greenwashing scan: can they make their claims, is everything sufficiently substantiated? Our motto is ‘right and clear’. And we don’t compromise on that.”

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“The greenwashing scan responds to a new trend: greenhushing, in which companies deliberately keep their sustainability achievements and initiatives quiet or communicate less, for fear of being accused of greenwashing. Initiatives like the European Green Claims Directive will fortunately bring order to that area.”

"Real sustainable transformation does not happen in the boardroom but on the shop floor. To put your ESG strategy into practice, people have to be able and willing to change."

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The Green Claims Directive, that’s not trivial. What do companies need to know about it?

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“The Green Claims Directive will be the European directive for sustainability communications. In a nutshell, it will impose minimum requirements for the environmental claims companies can make. It will be stringent, because independent parties will have to verify such claims, and labels will be scrutinized. Companies working with carbon credits will also have to comply with the directive.”

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“The Green Claims Directive will not come into force for a few years, but there are already national rules. In our case, the FPS Economy is dealing with the matter. But I think the strongest motivation for companies to avoid making untruthful sustainability claims lies in the risk of reputational damage. Incurring a fine is one thing, but if your brand is damaged, it can have much bigger consequences: it can break you. This brings us back to the importance of ‘right and clear’. And that is exactly what my team is best at.”

This is Jonas:

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Head of Communication
More than 10 years of experience in strategic and persuasive communication
Accountmanager for, among others, FWO, VMM and LSO
Gives training courses and workshops on sustainability communication

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Meet our Team Leads: Jonas Kiesekoms, Head of Communication

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