Sustainability leaders are navigating a challenging landscape of uncertainty and skepticism, but by reframing sustainability as a key strategy for future-proofing their businesses, communicating authentically, and collaborating with stakeholders, they can build resilience and drive lasting value
Key takeaways:
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Frame sustainability as future-proofing the business — Corporate leaders should characterize sustainability investments in this way to better communicate their value and importance to stakeholders.
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Strong governance enables clear sustainability messaging — Effective board oversight and governance can help companies maintain internal clarity and emphasize their commitment to sustainability.
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Prioritize present action over future ambitions — Focusing on current sustainability actions and progress can aid corporate leaders in building credibility and trust with stakeholders, rather than just making long-term promises.
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Sustainability leaders find themselves at a crossroads in a volatile landscape. While the urgency for climate action and responsible business has never been greater, the external environment is rife with uncertainty, politicization, and hostility. Indeed, the challenge for corporate leaders is how can they keep internal momentum, communicate with credibility, and maintain resilience in the face of skepticism and shifting regulatory winds?
At Reuters Events’ recent Responsible Business USA conference, sustainability professionals came to learn how their peers are approaching sustainability action and corporate communications during this tumultuous time. Community played a big part in the learning as attendees were organized into buddy groups categorized by their primary learning objectives, such how best to communicate with stakeholders with varying interests or how to navigate changing regulatory and compliance rules.
Across the board, attendees learned the essential tenets for effective sustainability actions and messaging. Indeed, a key insight heard multiple times from the event’s speakers was the success of characterizing sustainability investments as future-proofing the business in an environment in which the only certainty is uncertainty.
Elements for sustainability messaging & engagement
Achieving clear and impactful sustainability messaging, coupled with genuine engagement, necessitates a strategic approach grounded in several fundamental elements, including:
Rethinking sustainability to focus on how it secures future performance — By aligning communication and action to withstand external shocks — be they political, regulatory, or reputational — leaders can take the first step in future-proofing company operations. This lies at the heart of strategic sustainability activities and starts by reinforcing sustainability’s connection to the company’s core purpose and ensuring that every team member understands why these actions are being taken. Indeed, in the words of one speaker: “Gaining buy-in is easier when it is closely tied to purpose.” If a sustainability activity does not tie into the company’s purpose, it is time to rethink it.
To put this into practice, leaders should convey a consistent internal message that sustainability is not a passing trend but rather a vital strategy for long-term value and risk management. As one executive noted: “Clients are willing to pay for future proofing and resilience.”
This future-ready mindset also means that leaders should seek to build agility and adaptability into their companies’ operations. And today, given the current politicized atmosphere, companies face a challenge in operating in a “volatile and even polarized” environment, said Jennifer Duran of consumer health company Kenvue, adding that this only underscores the need for “value protection” and a “resilience-building program.”
Enabling internal clarity through strong governance — In the words of one executive: “Strong governance is the foundation for steadfast commitment to sustainability.” Clear messaging is easier when there is effective board oversight and strong governance with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, going from the C-Suite down to individual contributors.
When the external conversation grows noisy or hostile, internal clarity — from the board, the C-Suite, and the operational managers — becomes the organization’s shield. As boards grapple with key issues, sustainability is an effective strategic lens to consider, and during these debates, the cost and the return on investment (ROI) is often a major component. That said, several conference speakers highlighted another ROI — the risk of inaction — upon which chief sustainability officers must consistently keep their boards focused.
Building trust through data, transparency & accountability — Robust, actionable data is the foundation of credible sustainability communication. Stakeholders expect transparency not just on companies’ successes, but also on their challenges and setbacks. “It is important to keep every stakeholder on the same page and invite them to engage more,” said Dave Stangis of Apollo Global Management.
Internally, sustainability is a team sport. “Getting people on board and keeping them on board” is the key to embedding sustainability across the organization, said Estee Lauder’s Al Iannuzzi. For example, consistent efforts to collect data from data owners while reminding them of the important role the data plays is key to operationalizing sustainability data for transparent and accountable reporting.
However, the biggest data challenge, according to several speakers, is the reliability of data coming from the supply chain, particularly partners based overseas. While there is no magic pill to solve this problem, embedding the requirement in vendor agreements that suppliers have to share data is a useful way of operationalizing this area of data collection.
Engagement & communication actions in hostile times
Sustainability executives shared their best lessons learned to ensure their corporate sustainability strategies remain funded and move forward during this tumultuous time, including:
Prioritize action now over ambitions in the future — In an era of skepticism, ambitious long-term promises, such as like 2050 net zero targets, can sound hollow because of the long time frame. Effective sustainability messaging involves the urgency of now, because stakeholders — whether employees, customers, or regulators — want to know what the company is doing today.
Executives from pharmaceutical giant Novartis and tech heavyweight Ericsson highlighted the power of storytelling that’s rooted in current action. The key message from both companies was: “Don’t focus on 2050, communicate what you are doing now.”
Urging “actions over commitments,” Sonya Gafsi Oblisk of Whole Foods Market echoed this attitude as well. “We can impact change and lead change every day, and small actions across the stakeholder board is the way to get there.”
Institute audience-centric, authentic messaging — Authenticity and transparency, rooted in the specific needs and context of each audience, are non-negotiable in both effective engagement and sustainability messaging. When speaking with investors, framing sustainability risks as business issues are crucial. Mindy Lubber of sustainability nonprofit Ceres framed the challenge succinctly: “Climate issues, water issues are business issues — climate change is a fundamental risk to our economy.”
Establish strength in numbers for collaboration & advocacy — Success in sustainability communications in a politicized environment is sometimes achieved through strength in numbers. Indeed, industry coalitions and trade associations offer credibility in a hostile political environment. “We have to collaborate, and we need to make coalitions,” said Gina McCarthy, former White House climate advisor. “That is how change works.” Likewise, working together on standards, advocacy, and best practice-sharing not only amplifies the message but also provides a buffer against sector-specific backlash, other attendees said.
Communication as a tool for resilience
Insights from the Reuters Events’ Responsible Business USA 2025 conference made it clear that framing sustainability through the lens of resiliency is now mission-critical for sustainability leaders. By anchoring messaging in purpose, focusing on present action, and collaborating broadly, companies can weather any potential backlash while building lasting value.
“If you’re not adopting change, you are succumbing to it,” Kenvue’s Duran explained, adding that sustainability leaders should let their communication be a tool for resilience, not retreat in order to keep pushing forward, together, toward a sustainable future.
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