Reviving the spirit of sustainability in 2025
The events of 2024 have left many sustainability professionals feeling dazed and demoralized. After years of what felt like an ‘ESG party' kickstarted by Larry Fink's famous 2020 CEO letter — marked by companies rushing to commit to net zero and address social problems like racism and gender inequality — 2024's setbacks feel like the party's vengeful hangover.
The anti-ESG movement — amplified by political polarization in the United States — gave figures like Robby Starbuck outsized influence, leading corporations such as Walmart, John Deere, and Harley Davidson to backpedal on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments. Trump's re-election and the subsequent stock market frenzy seemed to repudiate the very concept of corporate sustainability.
Is corporate sustainability a bunch of bullshit? This thought has pervaded my mind during recent walks with my dog, Lincoln, through Oakland's redwoods.
I thought back to well over a decade ago when — as a young, stubbornly idealistic cynic at my first Sustainable Brands conference — I approached corporate sustainability with cautious optimism. Coming from a family of small business owners, I was conditioned to be skeptical of corporate benevolence. Yet as I gained experience in sustainability journalism and communications, I learned that companies aren't monoliths but complex ecosystems of competing interests — unified by dedicated sustainability professionals fighting for change from within.
As a sustainability communicator, it’s my duty to help sell the story of sustainability. Sure, this involves helping individual companies translate numbers and strategies into words and stories that accelerate action. But as a storyteller, it’s also my responsibility to remind sustainability professionals that they are part of something grand.
Now that I have a few more grays on my head and many lessons under my belt, I understand that what we’re trying to do is hard — and bigger than any one person, company, industry or country. We are trying to improve capitalism so that humanity can continue to enjoy its benefits while reducing its destructive side effects. Maybe it can’t be done. We don’t know, yet. But what if?
That is the spirit of sustainability. Driven by the conviction that humanity can do better, we are eternally dissatisfied with the status quo. We embrace science, compassion, human ingenuity, and the belief in betterness, while rejecting ignorance, hate, and hopeless cynicism. We don’t fear change — but welcome it.
Throughout human history, there have always been those courageous few willing to challenge the status quo even when it made them unpopular or put their own lives at risk. None of us got into the business of sustainability to get rich — there are much more lucrative paths. We do this because we want to devote our lives to something more.
But at the same time, we need to make sure to come off our high horse. If the results of the U.S. election taught us anything, it’s that the average person is more focused on practical matters than lofty ideals. What we need to do a better job of is showing folks that sustainability isn’t idealism — it’s a practical response to inconvenient truths. Embracing sustainability means solving practical problems through innovative solutions that ultimately translates into greater prosperity for all.
So, is corporate sustainability bullshit? No. It's about addressing bullshit in business-as-usual — a system that has created countless material wonders at the cost of human dignity and environmental stability. We can do better, even if we haven't yet convinced everyone. The party isn’t over because there’s still plenty of work to be done. And in 2025, it's time to get back to it.
This originally appeared in the December 2024 ENGAGE newsletter. Subscribe to have articles like this and other sustainability communication content delivered directly to your inbox each month.
