The role of language in sustainability matters

Sustainability challenges, goals, responsibilities, and implementation expectations are communicated through language. Therefore, language is also a sustainability matter: in order to have real-world impact, sustainability-related goals and the actions required to achieve them need to be communicated through language that is clear, understandable, and actionable.

To support real-world impact, sustainability-related commitments and requirements must do more than merely appear in policies, contracts, or Codes of Conduct. They must help users understand what is expected and how sustainability-related requirements in regulations and contracts connect to operational practice.

However, the language used in communicating about sustainability matters often creates an appearance of addressing sustainability expectations, but does not sufficiently support action or implementation.

We call this kind of language sustainabilitese or duediligencese: complex, abstract, or jargon-heavy sustainability language that is difficult to understand, interpret, or apply in practice.