The climate crisis, rising inequality, and call for transparency are no longer the domain of policy makers and sustainability managers. They are now boardroom concerns, shareholder questions, and everyday conversation and communication professionals cannot afford to be on the sidelines.
Whether you are heading a brand, composing internal communiques, or conducting external campaigns, I’m sure you already have someone in your organisation telling you to define your organisation’s sustainability efforts. But here is the catch: How do you communicate on something you have not been properly trained in?
That’s where the change begins. In order for communications professionals to drive influential sustainability storytelling, we must be intentional about mastering the language, the paradigms, and the norms that come with it. And that means going beyond surface-level information.
Registering for hands-on, structured training such as the course in GRI standards is a great place to start. GRI has become the international standard for sustainability reporting, and learning how to use its frameworks allows communicators to report actual, authentic accounts of what organisations are doing and where they’re falling behind. It also stops us from resorting to wishy-washy, feel-good speak that’s empty under scrutiny or worse, greenwashing.
But then there is local context to factor in. Global models may not always consider the distinctive challenges that we face here in Africa from shifting policy arenas to limitations of data and budget constraints. That is why bespoke training, like that offered by Impact Africa Consulting Limited (IACL), is so useful. This kind of training deconstructs sustainability in a form that is applicable to our environment, sectors, and stakeholders. They speak not just to what sustainability is, but to how to speak about it in terms that will motivate people and spur action.
I’ve seen firsthand how equipping communication teams with this kind of knowledge changes the game. They start contributing more strategically working alongside sustainability officers, challenging leadership to be more transparent, and creating messages that inspire both internal buy-in and public trust. These aren’t just storytellers anymore; they’re translators of impact and enablers of change.
For business, spending on this capacity-building is no longer optional. If you’re preparing to release an ESG report, answering investor questions, or launching a new campaign, you need the capabilities of communication professionals to handle the nuance and complexity of sustainability. They’re listening closely, asking harder questions, and calling for honest answers.
The truth is, sustainability is not a department it’s a culture and it is communicated.
So, if you’re a practitioner who wants to get involved, take that GRI course. Go to a session at IACL. Talk to other practitioners wrestling with this. The fate of corporate reputation, public trust, and actual change is at stake.
Read: Addressing gaps in sustainability reporting
We don’t need more sustainability stories. We need better ones and better storytellers to tell them.
