Sustainability communicators have some catching up to do.
Head of Strategy @ The Climate Hub | Do sustainable storytelling right | Climate Tech | Nature Tech | Corporate Sustainability
Sustainability communicators (like much of the progressive world) have fallen into the trap of reactive messaging. The fossil fuel industry and right-wing media are shaping public perception around sustainability and climate action before we even show up to the conversation. We're busy crafting 80-page impact reports and debating best practices for responsible storytelling while the right is moving the goalposts of public discourse in real time. Rather than reacting to the news cycle, they set it. They establish the talking points, mainstream them through their media ecosystem, and turn fringe narratives into dominant political positions. Climate action? Government overreach. ❌ Sustainability? An elitist agenda. ❌ ESG? A left-wing takeover of corporate America. ❌ If sustainability communicators don’t learn how to drive the narrative instead of responding to it, we’ll keep losing the battle for public perception. This week I explored three key approaches I see climate-naysayers using to their advantage — and compared them with how sustainability is communicated: https://lnkd.in/e8-786KR