The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election came as a shock to many in the world of corporate sustainability and beyond. In one night, it seemed like years of progress on social and environmental issues were shattered. With a corrupt, climate-denying convicted criminal with blatant authoritarian ambitions heading to the White House in 2025 – corporate sustainability professionals are feeling disheartened at best and horrified at worst. While we don’t know for sure what will happen,...

As global temperatures continue to rise and we see the negative effects of a warming world, it’s becoming clear that businesses can’t address the climate crisis through voluntary action alone. Businesses need good policy to shape the rules of engagement that unlock private sector innovation to tackle tough sustainability challenges like climate. Many companies with sound corporate sustainability strategies aren’t speaking up in the policy arena for fear of alienating customers, investors,...

While food isn’t always the flashiest sustainability topic, with agriculture being a significant driver of the climate crisis, strong sustainability communication is needed to educate and engage consumers to act. KIND is leading some cutting-edge work around regenerative agriculture – which comes with its own set of sustainability communication challenges. In this episode, Mike speaks with Lindsay Philpott, Sustainability Communication Manager at KIND to learn more about how the company...

The role of the CSO has changed significantly over the years, from a backroom marketing function to being key figures in their company’s business operation and growth. Roughly 183 public companies in the U.S. now employ a CSO, up from 29 in 2011, according to a recent report from recruiter Weinreb Group. Of those, more than three-quarters sit on the company’s leadership team while just over a third report directly to the CEO. With this elevated status comes increasing responsibility for CSOs...

Greenwashing law is still in its nascency, but recent regulations in Europe and case law in the U.S. is beginning to shape its future. In Europe, companies must prove that they aren’t greenwashing, while in the U.S. the burden is on the consumer to prove that a company is making false claims. As companies navigate this new legal landscape, they must tread carefully with their sustainability communication efforts. In this episode, Mike connects with legal and ESG expert Christine Uri to better...

Now that we’re halfway through 2024, it’s safe to say that ESG has been having a “complicated” year. With the anti-ESG backlash having been largely successful scaring many companies to backtrack or downplay their social and environmental work, the future of ESG remains unclear. Despite all of this, companies must strive to maintain an “ESG mindset”, according to Matt Sekol, author of the book “ESG Mindset” and Sustainability Global Black Belt at Microsoft. And in this effort, sustainability...

Companies have always been trying to engage young people on sustainability. But for some reason, this is getting harder. While Millennials were among the first to more heavily weigh social and environmental factors into employment decisions, Gen Z is taking this trend into hyperdrive. Companies hoping to attract and retain the best talent must tell authentic sustainability stories that are capable of persuading young people that they are committed to sustainability. In this episode, Mike...

The fashion industry faces its own unique set of ESG and sustainability challenges. Understanding how to communicate complex sustainability challenges to diverse consumer audiences is critical for companies as they progress on their journeys. In this episode, Mike speaks with Ali Mize, an ESG and sustainability expert to learn more about Neiman Marcus Group’s approach to sustainability storytelling, and how companies can improve sustainability communication overall.

The words used to describe sustainability work have morphed and changed over the years — from corporate philanthropy to CSR, to sustainability and ESG. This constant change in terminology confuses even those who live and breathe it everyday and poses a big problem for sustainability communicators. What exactly should we call this “thing” we do? In this episode, Mike interviews Raheem Cash, vice president of Corporate Sustainability at Moody’s Corporation, to better understand where we've...

Over the past few years, the surge in energy in corporate sustainability has been fueled by renewed investor interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG). Sparked by Larry Fink’s 2020 investor letter, this seemed to signal a new era of investor enthusiasm for ESG information from companies they invest in. However, the anti-ESG rhetoric and increasing politicization of ESG has caused many companies to backtrack. Many companies continue to guess at what investors want from them on the...

With several new rules and regulations around ESG communication, sustainability storytellers must adapt. In this episode, Mike speaks with global ESG leader Tim Mohin of Boston Consulting Group to learn more about how sustainability and communication professionals can best navigate this new era.

The video game industry is just now “pressing start” on corporate sustainability. With comparatively low levels of resource intensity and often complex chains of custody and responsibility for social and environmental impacts, many video game makers are just now figuring out their sustainability strategies. Even still, communicating sustainability in this sector faces its own challenges and opportunities. To better understand how the video game industry is approaching sustainability...

After two years of consideration and more than 24,000 comments, on March 6, 2024 the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally adopted its “rules to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies and in public offerings.” These rules are part of an effort to respond to investor demand for more “consistent, comparable and reliable” information about the financial effects of climate-related risks on a company’s operations — and how those risks are...

Sustainability storytelling is more important — and complicated — than ever. With so many changing expectations and regulations around sustainability storytelling, knowing how to effectively social and environmental impact is a top challenge for companies across the globe. In this episode, Mike brings in the expertise of a fellow sustainability communications expert — Whitney Dailey, Executive Vice President, Purpose at the global public relations firm Allison Worldwide — to better understand...

Writing is a lost art for many sustainability professionals. But the ability to write well continues to be critical for communicating social and environmental challenges effectively. In this episode of The Sustainability Communicator, Mike discusses key learnings from over a decade as a write and editor in the corporate sustainability space that form the fundamentals of effective sustainability writing.

With the stakes of communicating sustainability higher than ever, it's important that companies get their story straight. But many continues to fail to tell authentic and engaging stories that resonate with their key audiences. In this episode of The Sustainability Communicator, Mike explains common reasons why businesses struggle to tell good sustainability stories - and how to do better.

If there's one things corporate sustainability professionals love more than a healthy serving of alphabet soup with our many acronyms, it's trying to make predictions about what will happen in this truly unpredictable space. But in this episode of The Sustainability Communicator, Mike takes a crack at it anyway. Here are some things to look for in sustainability communication in 2024.

The stakes of communicating sustainability are higher than ever as global companies enter a new era of ESG risk and opportunity. In this inaugural episode of The Sustainability Communicator, Mike discusses how the increased risks and rewards of bad and good sustainability communication, respectively, are calling for a new type of sustainability communications professional capable of translating between marketing and sustainability departments.