Green PR is a sub-field of public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 that communicates an organization

Organization

An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...

's corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...

 or environmentally friendly

Environmentally friendly

Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....

 practices to the public. The goal is to produce increased brand awareness

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is a marketing concept that enables marketers to quantify levels and trends in consumer knowledge and awareness of a brand's existence...

 and improve the organization's reputation

Reputation

Reputation of a social entity is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria...

. Tactics include placing news articles, winning awards, communicating with environmental groups and distributing publications.

The term is derived from the "green movement

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

", an ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

 which seeks to minimize the effect of human activity on the environment

Environment (biophysical)

The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...

.

Importance

Environmentalism

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

 has become increasingly popular among consumers and media. A nine-country survey

Statistical survey

Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

 found 85% of consumers

Consumer

Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...

 around the world are willing to change their consumption

Consumption (economics)

Consumption is a common concept in economics, and gives rise to derived concepts such as consumer debt. Generally, consumption is defined in part by comparison to production. But the precise definition can vary because different schools of economists define production quite differently...

 habits to make tomorrow’s world a better place, and over half (55%) would help a brand “promote” a product if a good cause were behind it. The study also found when choosing between two brands of same quality and price, social purpose affected consumers’ decision the most (41%), ahead of design and innovation (32%) and the loyalty to the brand (26%).

According to PR Week

PR Week

PRWeek is a weekly trade magazine for the public relations industry.PRWeek also produces research into the size and shape of the UK public relations industry including the annual ranking of Top 150 PR consultancies and Salary Survey as well as surveys into industry-relevant issues such as staff...

:

The significance of corporate America embracing the green movement cannot be denied. Some still think it's a fad, but all signs point to the contrary - a sustained commitment to sustainability, either for economic efficiencies or reach out to a public whose goals and values are changing.