Webinar recap: Getting your sustainability story straight
In an era when stakeholders demand transparency and action on environmental and social challenges, effective sustainability communication has become a strategic imperative. Yet organizations often struggle when this crucial responsibility falls to communications teams unfamiliar with sustainability complexities or sustainability experts without communications expertise. The risks and opportunities around sustainability communication have intensified during this unprecedented political moment in the United States.
In a recent webinar, our founder, Mike Hower, led an actionable webinar titled "Getting Your Sustainability Story Straight: Building Credibility While Driving Value" that bridges this gap. He discussed current trends in sustainability communication, and presented a usable framework for creating sustainability narratives that are:
This session was for communications professionals looking to strengthen their sustainability fluency, and sustainability teams and ESG teams seeking to enhance messaging effectiveness.
The Current State of Sustainability Communications
Mike identified four major trends shaping sustainability communications in 2025:
The Political Reality: Sustainability has become increasingly politicized. Companies now operate in an era of populism, polarization, and "post-truth." Despite government pushback against environmental initiatives, stakeholders continue to demand corporate action. Mike emphasized that companies must speak up to protect democratic institutions while articulating why sustainability remains a business imperative.
Changing Demographics: A critical miscalculation in corporate sustainability has been assuming younger Americans naturally align with progressive environmental and social values. Recent election data suggests Gen Z is trending more conservative than expected. As Mike noted, "Gen Z could end up becoming our most vocal critics if sustainability continues to be positioned as exclusively progressive." Companies need to reframe sustainability as a universal imperative that transcends political identity.
The Online Media Ecosystem: Americans increasingly get their news from podcasts, streams, and long-form content, with right-leaning shows dominating the online landscape. Mike cited that nine out of ten online shows with the largest followings are right-leaning, and 87% of people who hear news discussed on podcasts expect it to be accurate. Organizations must engage with these platforms to counter false narratives about sustainability efforts.
The Unstoppable Momentum: Despite political headwinds, sustainability initiatives continue to grow. A compelling statistic shared: 92% of CFOs plan to boost sustainability spending, while 69% expect higher ROI from these initiatives compared to conventional investments. However, 61% still view sustainability primarily as a cost rather than a value creator—what Mike calls the "cost center bias."
What the Sustainability Community Got Wrong
Mike candidly addressed false assumptions made during what he called "the Golden Age of ESG" (2020-2023), including beliefs that:
Sustainability progress was inevitable
Younger generations would naturally champion these causes
More data alone would win hearts and minds
Companies could address all social and environmental problems simultaneously
Sustainability would always be profitable and requires no sacrifices
The business world doesn't need government support
"We cannot volunteer our way out of this mess," Mike emphasized. "We need good policy to create rules of engagement that unleash private sector innovation."
Six Strategies for Reclaiming the Narrative
To build more effective sustainability communications, Mike recommends:
Acknowledge Trade-offs: Move beyond claims that sustainability is always profitable and requires no sacrifices. "Sometimes sustainability is a cost center and we have to accept that. But think about it in terms of an investment versus just lighting money on fire."
Focus on Material Impact: Concentrate on areas where businesses can make meaningful environmental and social progress aligned with core operations.
Bridge Economic and Environmental Concerns: Show how sustainability initiatives can address immediate economic pressures. "We're past this time of people being tired of hearing about making the world better and saving the planet. We really need to make it tangible, especially right now when economic times are tough."
Embrace Humility of Scope: Acknowledge that the private sector can't solve all environmental and social challenges without government partnership. "The private sector can't single-handedly solve all of the world's sustainability problems."
Engage Beyond Echo Chambers: Develop messages that resonate outside sustainability circles. "We need to democratize our communication to build a bigger coalition."
Balance Aspirations with Reality: Set ambitious goals but provide realistic implementation timelines and transparent discussion of challenges.
The Three C's of Effective Sustainability Communication
Successful sustainability messaging must be:
Compelling: Interesting, relevant, meaningful, and complete
Credible: Authentic, accurate, and believable
Compliant: Adhering to all greenwashing regulations and minimizing lawsuit risks
The Sustainability Comms Playbook
Mike outlined a comprehensive approach consisting of:
Sustainability Storytelling Assessment: Determining material sustainability stories by analyzing both company initiatives and macro trends. "This allows you to go from being reactive to being more proactive about how you talk about sustainability."
Sustainability Communication Strategy: Developing a plan aligned with overall communication strategy, featuring proactive and reactive considerations, clear messaging, engagement plans, and time-based KPIs.
Sustainability Claims Guide: Creating an internal tool to ensure all communicators make compelling, compliant, and credible claims. "When you see greenwashing happening, it's very rarely done on purpose. It's often done because people aren't in the weeds, they don't understand."
Practical Implementation Advice
When asked how companies can stand out while making the business case for sustainability, Mike emphasized specificity: "Focus on the substance—how it's specifically making business sense for your company. We invested this into renewable energy and it saved us this amount of dollars. Or even talk about the failures: 'We thought this was going to pay off. It didn't, but we learned from it and this is still why it was important.'"
Regarding sustainability reports, Mike suggested moving away from trying to make reports everything to everyone: "When you narrow down your content to a specific stakeholder group and audience, it makes it so much easier to tell interesting stories." He recommended separating disclosures from storytelling, using digital platforms more effectively, and creating more targeted communications.
Staying Silent Isn’t a Viable Long-term Strategy
The webinar emphasized that sustainability communication is at a critical juncture. Companies must adapt to political realities while staying true to sustainability commitments. By focusing on material impact, acknowledging trade-offs, and communicating with authenticity, businesses can reclaim the sustainability narrative and drive meaningful change.
As Mike concluded, "Green hushing is not a long-term strategy. Keeping your head down might keep you safe in the short term, but it's not going to help you in the long term."
For organizations looking to enhance their sustainability communications, adopting Hower Impact's framework offers a path forward in an increasingly complex landscape where effective storytelling is essential for building credibility and driving value.
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