Reframing ESG: How sustainability leaders can hold the line without losing the plot

It’s no secret: the ESG honeymoon is over. Once heralded as the North Star for progressive business, ESG is now caught in the gravitational pull of economic pressure, politicisation, and a growing wave of scepticism. 

According to Morningstar, global ESG fund flows, which peaked at USD 645 billion in 2021, plummeted by 75% in 2022.

In 2024, inflows into sustainable funds halved again, even as broader markets boomed. A cocktail of factors: average underperformance, greenwashing fatigue, regulatory friction, and rising anti-ESG sentiment, has dampened enthusiasm.

And across boardrooms, there’s a quiet - or perhaps a disquiet - retreat from the bold declarations of 2020.

Promises are being scaled back. Sustainability teams are being asked to ‘do more with less’. Redundancies are mounting. And even the most passionate sustainability leaders are feeling the strain of constant justification.

So where does that leave those of us who still believe, and still have the energy, to push toward a just, regenerative, and net-positive future?

The ESG Backlash: A Signal, Not a Stop Sign

When the wind changes, smart sailors adjust their sails.

The backlash against ESG isn’t a reason to abandon ship, it’s a signal to evolve.

For many, ESG has been reduced to compliance checklists, investor deck filler, or political lightning rods. In that context, even sincere strategies can lose their emotional charge and social licence.

Communicators have a crucial role, not to water down the message, but to humanise it. Behind every emissions target is someone’s community, customer, future employee, or a child wondering what their future will look like.

I once sat in on a stakeholder workshop for a large infrastructure client where their legal team wanted to strip the word ‘ambition’ from all ESG messaging. It felt ‘too risky’. But a frontline team member, a maintenance worker with long tenure in the business, quietly said, ‘Isn’t it riskier not to change?’.

That moment reframed the room.

Not because it was strategic, but because it was real.

From Acronyms to Actions: Telling Better ESG Stories

Reframing ESG isn’t about jargon-swapping. It’s about focusing on what really matters.

The organisations gaining traction today aren’t necessarily those with the most ambitious targets or glossiest reports, they’re the ones that make ESG relevant and easy to understand.

And above all, the ones that tell the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Because when sustainability stories get ahead of the work, trust is the first casualty.

It’s essential to ask: Have we tackled the most material issues? Are we sharing progress transparently? Are we walking the talk, or just talking?

Here’s what authentic ESG storytelling looks like:

• Lead with impact, not intent. Anyone can announce a commitment. Few can show lived change. Focus on tangible, relatable outcomes, how your actions improve lives, reduce risk, or spark innovation.
• Elevate the voices within. The sustainability function shouldn’t be the sole narrator. Teams, customers, community partners, they all bring authenticity and perspective to the story.
• Frame ESG as business-critical. Research from McKinsey shows companies with high ESG performance saw 10% greater EBITDA margins on average. That's not fluff, that's bottom-line relevance. But the trick is framing this without sounding self-congratulatory. Think evidence, not evangelism.
• Embrace complexity with confidence. ESG isn’t tidy. That’s okay. In fact, transparency about trade-offs and challenges often builds more trust than polished perfection.
  

A Real-World Shift: What Happens When You Reframe

One client we worked with, a listed company, was struggling to gain internal momentum for its ESG strategy. Stakeholders saw it as ‘extra’, disconnected from the core business.

Rather than pushing harder, we helped reframe the narrative.

Instead of ESG being a separate strategy, we positioned it as the business strategy, an engine for innovation, risk management, and talent attraction.

We aligned ESG with what mattered most to individual members of the leadership team. Finance wanted to know how efficiencies saved money. Marketing wanted to know how it boosted NPS scores. Sales wanted to see how it would drive new markets.

This resulted in more internal buy-in, stronger storytelling, and faster progress. The same data, reframed through the lens of relevance and value, became a catalyst instead of a cost.

When It Feels Like Too Much: Reframing Your Own Role

Let’s be honest: holding the line on sustainability right now is exhausting.

Especially if you’re doing it in a climate of corporate retreat, political pressure, or dwindling internal support.

I was at a dinner party recently when someone asked what I did for work. They took a look of pity and said, ‘Isn’t that a bit… futile now since the re-election of you-know-who just killed the whole ESG thing?’.

I took a breath and said ‘Yep, sometimes it does feel that way. But leadership isn’t a four-year cycle. We’re working on a timeline that spans generations.’ Because if you’re in this work, you’re not just reacting to policy shifts or shareholder sentiment.

You’re helping steer the long arc of business, and society, toward something better. And that arc bends slowly. But it bends because people like us keep putting pressure on it.

Nevertheless, many sustainability leaders are quietly approaching burnout.

You’re trying to be the conscience of your organisation, the bridge between departments, the expert in a fast-changing field, and the keeper of optimism, all at once.

But we can’t shift the zeitgeist by grinding ourselves into the ground. When we burn out, we can’t lead change. We can’t even think clearly. And certainly not strategically.

So how do we hold on. To ourselves, to our purpose, and to the long game?

Here are some small but powerful reframes to support your own sustainability in this work:

• Redefine progress - Not every win has to be a headline. Celebrate micro-moves: a reframed KPI, a new internal ally, a reframed slide that landed better in a board meeting. Change is often incremental.
• Build a constellation, not a spotlight - You don’t have to be the sole torchbearer. Find your allies, at work, in your social circles, even the most unexpected corners. Let them carry part of the message. Strengthen the chorus.
• Create boundaries around your belief - Give yourself permission to take a break. Put the burden down at the end of the day, week, month. Turn off the news. Delay the perfect response. You can be deeply committed to climate action and still go for a walk without your phone. You’re no less strategic for being human.
• Reconnect to your 'why' - One client we worked with asked every team member to share what sustainability meant to them personally. One said it was about protecting the river they swam in as a child. Another said it was about making their kids proud. Recalling your own ‘why’ can be a powerful antidote to fatigue.
• Talk to other believers - Burnout thrives in isolation. Purpose is restored in community. Whether it’s a trusted peer, a mentor, or a sustainability network, reach out. Even a ten-minute call can reconnect you to your sense of agency.

What to Do Next: 3 Communication Shifts for Sustainability Leaders

If your organisation is wavering on ESG, here are three ways to shift gears, and get back in motion:

• Audit your narrative - Is your messaging rooted in risk, compliance, and fear? Or in opportunity, ambition, and value? Words shape perception and perception shapes momentum.
• Build unusual alliances - Pull in unexpected champions, finance, HR, product, operations. Co-create the story and identify what’s important to different teams and individuals.
• Make it real - Invest in story assets: authentic imagery, infographics to bring data to life, short films. Don’t just show progress; help people care about it.

The Edge (Impact) We Bring

At Edge, we’ve helped organisations across every sector turn good intent into great impact, not just through frameworks and metrics, but through belief, strategy, and momentum.

We understand that sustainability is as much a people challenge as it is a planetary one. And we know that the leaders shaping the future need space to breathe, reflect, and stay in the game.

So, let’s not retreat. Let’s reframe.

Because the future still needs visionaries, and those visionaries need support, too.

We're here to help you be heard, and to help you stay the course.