Making Sustainability Messaging Real

There’s a moment—somewhere between the third acronym on a corporate slide deck and the fifth slide of “materiality mapping”—when most people quietly check out. It’s not because sustainability isn’t important. It’s because, somewhere along the line, the messaging stopped feeling real.

At StoneComms, we’ve worked with companies across Africa and the UK that are genuinely driving change—building solar infrastructure, electrifying transport, training female engineers. But too often, their communications don’t match the scale of what they’re doing. That’s where purpose-driven PR comes in. It’s not about box-ticking. It’s about clarity, credibility, and connection.

ESG Isn’t the End Goal—It’s the Framework

Let’s start with the elephant in the boardroom: ESG.

Environmental, Social, and Governance goals have become the business world’s favourite three-letter badge of honour. But ESG isn’t the story—it’s the scaffolding. What’s really compelling is what’s being built.

The shift we help clients make is from reporting metrics to revealing meaning. Investors want to know you’re serious about climate impact. Customers want to understand how their choices align with their values. And employees? They want to work somewhere that means something.

When one African clean mobility client approached us, their ESG deck was solid—emissions avoided, jobs created, battery repurposing stats. But the real story? A female mechanic in Kigali who went from informal labour to certified EV technician, thanks to their academy. That’s what we led with. That’s what got them press coverage. That’s what made people care.

Messaging That Moves

Sustainability messaging should move your audience. Emotionally and strategically.

Here’s how we approach it at StoneComms:

1. Start with the why, not the acronym.
   Before mentioning SDGs or Scope 3 emissions, clarify what drives your work. Is it clean air in urban centres? Financial inclusion? Climate justice?

2. Find the human in the headline.
   Sustainability is full of metrics, but people connect with people. Highlight stories of the communities, workers, or users you impact.

3. Avoid jargon. Embrace clarity.
   If your messaging reads like it was written by a compliance team after three cups of instant coffee, it’s time for a rewrite. Plain English is powerful.

4. Link goals to actions.
   Don’t just say you support the energy transition. Show us the bike you’re building. The battery you’re swapping. The grid you’re decentralising.

5. Be brave enough to name the gaps.
   Impact isn’t perfection. It’s progress. Audiences respect honesty more than spin.

What Real Impact Messaging Looks Like

Let’s say you’re a green tech startup in Birmingham. You’re reducing textile waste using AI sorting systems. You’ve got data. You’ve got pilots. But how do you get noticed?

Now imagine a piece titled “The AI That Sorts Your Old T-Shirts Better Than You Ever Could.”
Imagine a case study about how your solution turned a landfill-bound pile into reusable cotton for a local sportswear brand.

That’s impact made real. That’s the kind of story journalists, funders, and partners remember.

From Silent Sliders to Powerful Presence

So much good work goes unseen. Buried in impact reports, lost on underloved websites, or swallowed by “Sustainability Strategy 2023-26” PDFs.

At StoneComms, our job is to surface the signal. To take the thing you’re quietly proud of and make it impossible to ignore. We’ve helped small teams get into global headlines, and emerging startups secure major funding—by telling the right story, to the right people, in the right way.

If your business is doing the work but not getting the recognition, we’d love to help. Get in touch for a free Green Impact Audit or subscribe to our newsletter for insight-led content straight to your inbox.