Sustainability Has a New Vocabulary. It Sounds a Lot Like Finance.

Sustainable Brands & Paloma Jacome

The dominant question was no longer, “Why should companies care about sustainability?”

It was, “How do we solve with sustainability, not for it?”

The Language Gap

Sustainability experts can communicate, but are they translating?

Transforming the language around intentions, problems, and needs into information that resonates with the people evaluating the numbers is an entirely different skill. To be effective, true experts need to speak the language of profit and decision-making, not just impact.

Adapting to business language works to close this gap. Words like "efficiency" and "value" are familiar across departments, and don't require a sustainability background to land. By speaking directly with metrics, finance, and ops, instead of at these teams, sustainability initiatives are better articulated as business. Simple swaps: "carbon footprint" to "energy cost exposure," or "circularity" to "material cost avoidance," improve the connection between what’s being said and what’s persuasive.

Two sessions at this year's conference made the case directly: Can't Say ESG? Say ROI and Striking the Balance: The Business Case Companies Can't Afford to Ignore.

And there is proof in experience:

"Only two departments come to my office asking for money with no numbers: HR and Sustainability."

"Solve with sustainability, not for sustainability."

"Attach it to a problem someone already owns and cares about."

Sustainability leaders need to close the gap by learning cash flow and finance fundamentals, quantifying risks and avoided costs, and building business cases that can survive scrutiny. It’s time to stop relying on generic sustainability benefits and start highlighting business outcomes instead.

Chief Sustainability Officer Katharina Stenholm, made a similar point earlier this year: “Only by speaking the language of business can sustainability professionals ensure that sustainability remains business-relevant” (World Economic Forum).

Translating Sustainability Into Business Value

There is a gap in how sustainability is being presented, and it goes beyond word choice. When sustainability is framed only as impact, purpose, or environmental responsibility, businesses can completely miss their targets.

Sustainability can reduce costs, improve retention, strengthen supply chains, and ultimately create better products. But these benefits disappear when initiatives are described in language that does not connect to the problems leadership is trying to solve. As Harvard Business School Online explains, “One of the simplest business cases for sustainability is that using fewer resources, or more sustainable ones, can decrease production costs.”

Plans that are “good for the planet” still have value. However, that value is rarely presented in the language decision-makers use. If companies can’t explain how being more sustainable will improve costs, reduce risks, or strengthen performance, it becomes harder for initiatives to receive the commitment and funding needed to support them.

Updated Buzzwords: Taking on a New Wave of Terminology

In 2023, Grounded wrote about “Sustainability Buzzwords,” emphasizing that effective sustainability language must be “accurate and not misleading.” Even familiar terms like “recycling” and “biodegradable” are constantly being misinterpreted by consumers, often because they are overused in marketing without enough (or any) explanation.The same problem is occurring inside businesses. Terms like “EPR,” “decarbonization,” and “offsets” are important, but aren’t intuitive conceptually, especially when communicating business value. This is the intention-action aspect: companies are trying, but the work isn’t translating.

The language refresh is a lot more operational. Terms like “ROI,” “business value,” “resilience,” “governance,” “integration,” “data quality,” and “license to operate” confirm that sustainability is being discussed less as a purpose initiative and more as a business capability. Again, the shift is not drifting away from sustainability. Rather, the industry is taking on a new wave, proving that sustainable business isn’t just for “doing the right thing,” it provides long-term opportunities.

Better Language Unlocks Better Decisions

Improving the way sustainability teams communicate cross-functionally makes the work move faster—and there's a reason for that. As Stenholm says, “anyone who speaks multiple languages knows it can affect how they think. The same applies to 'professional' languages – whether that's finance, marketing or sustainability” (World Economic Forum). Sustainability has its own dialect, and learning to speak the "language of business" doesn't mean losing it. It means becoming bilingual.

The Translation Has to Reach the Consumer

If sustainability doesn't translate internally, it won't reach the consumer. Customers don't make decisions based on "EPR," "Scope 3," or "decarbonization." They respond to benefits they can see: less waste, lower cost, better quality, safer materials, easier reuse, or a product that lasts longer. A claim can be correct and still fail if it doesn't tell the customer why it matters. And the trust gap is real: "Globally, 60% of consumers say they're skeptical of green claims made by brands” (Third Partners). The FTC’s Green Guides exist for this exact reason, “encouraging companies to avoid vague language that can mislead consumers, pushing instead for clarity and data that fosters trust and understanding.” (Two Sides North America).

Combatting Communication

The new vocabulary is not a move away from impact. It is a sign that sustainability is on the rise. Broad claims and good intentions won’t go anywhere without clear, communicated value. Companies have to show what sustainability can do: what risk it reduces, cost it avoids, behavior it supports, and competitive advantage it will create. The strongest brands will not be the ones using the most impressive terminology. They will be the ones that can make the case to decision-makers.