Yes. Now is actually the best time to tell your organization’s sustainability story.

For years, a company’s sustainability story had a clear home: inside a massive 100+-page sustainability report. These reports captured the full scope of a company’s efforts — carefully, comprehensively and all at once.

But what lived in those pages didn’t always make its way into marketing campaigns that actually drove brand preference and sales. Most often, the stories stayed buried within pages (within pages [within pages]) on websites, invisible to the customers and consumers who most wanted to hear those stories.

But now that’s changing.

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is an EU rule requiring many large companies — including non-EU companies doing a certain amount of business inside the EU — to report on environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices starting in the next few years.

CSRD will raise the bar on disclosures, demanding more rigor, standardization and data-driven evidence. Soon, every company will report exactly the same metrics, and every “report” will look more like a 10-K than a storybook.

To most sustainability leaders, this development is anxiety producing. They are desperately seeking to answer the question, “Now how should we tell our sustainability story?!” But in truth, there’s no reason to panic. Marketers now have a genuine opportunity to craft a sustainability narrative that reaches its most important audiences through the channels where they’re far more likely to see it — and drive preference and sales as a result. 

Why telling your sustainability story matters now

At the Marketing Communications Agency inside ERM, we have been surveying people every year for 20 years to understand their beliefs and expectations on a whole range of people and planet topics. We’ve seen growth in the importance of sustainability communications all along the way — and it hasn’t slowed down just because politics has taken a right turn. Nearly two-thirds of people around the world say a company’s social and environmental actions influence their buying decisions — 64% for social issues, 67% for environmental reputation (Eco Pulse^® 2025).

In other words, people are paying attention: consumers, employees and investors want to see real action on reducing emissions, supporting communities and driving impact. Brands that communicate transparently and authentically are rewarded with consumers’ spending, while silence or vague claims can very quickly erode trust.

Yet many companies today are leaning into “greenhushing” — doing the important work of sustainability but not sharing their efforts. Strategic storytelling can bridge that gap, turning action into reputation, trust and measurable business results.

Crafting stories that resonate

Successful sustainability storytelling rests on three pillars:

• Credibility: First and foremost, every claim must be verifiable, grounded in data, and supported by accessible information. Don’t hide it in reports. Make it visible wherever your audience encounters your brand, from packaging to product pages to campaigns.
• Relevance: Of course, not every company can or should cover every sustainability topic. Focus on what truly matters to your business/brand and your customers. Build your story on that foundation.
• Consistency: Sustainability can’t be a one-off message. Repetition across channels builds trust over time, ensuring that by the time someone is making a purchase decision, they already know what you stand for.

Integration is a story

As every Chief Sustainability Officer knows, sustainability impacts nearly every aspect of a business, especially a company’s bottom line. In addition, more often than not stronger sustainability efforts translate to greater resilience. If a manufacturer lowers water consumption in operations, for example, it becomes more able to withstand local water scarcity. The company’s operations — and business income — are less likely to be disrupted, confirming its financial health over time.

Sustainability and financial vitality are often interdependent — and this interplay is precisely what the CSRD, and the related European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), seek to bring to light. In responding to the CSRD, companies can do more than answer to regulation. They gain an opportunity to share how integrating sustainability across the business reduces risk, builds resilience and prepares the company for the long term.

These topics are not only for investors. There are numerous benefits to demonstrating the financial advantage of sustainability. For instance, this “story” can help retain talent, as employees feel more secure in planning their career with the business. Or supply chain partners may be inclined to sign longer contracts, as they see the company’s long-term viability, in both financial and sustainability terms.

Keep in mind, too, that the CSRD and ESRS have been refined to uncover the critical story of sustainability and its impact across the business. Initially, we heard a lot of clients describe the regulations as onerous. This complaint also made its way to the EU advisory group behind these rules. As a result, they have reduced the mandatory ESRS data points by 61% and completely removed all voluntary disclosures. Now, companies can get to the story of sustainability and business impact in a faster, clearer way.

Bridging the gap: doing + saying

In today’s sustainability landscape, storytelling must bridge doing and saying. What you say only matters if it’s backed by proof. What you do only matters if people hear and understand it. For too long, an industry gap has existed between exhaustive sustainability reports and generic marketing campaigns — and that’s precisely where effective communication must operate.

At ERM Marketing & Communications Agency (ERM MCA), we fully integrate sustainability action and communication — helping companies maximize the story they have today while building an even stronger one for tomorrow. Trusted by some of the world’s largest companies, we turn sustainability into a source of value and impact, reducing risk, strengthening brand affinity and driving preference for sustainable products and services.

Our aim is to ensure that what any of our clients do and say work together — transforming data and action into stories that resonate, inspire and drive results. Catch up on all of our latest data to better understand why it’s more important than ever to tell your organization’s sustainability story and reach out so we can help you fully leverage that story to create real impact in the world and in your organization.