From Southern Europe to North America, images of burned landscapes, evacuated communities and smoke-filled skies have become a familiar feature of our news feeds. Since the start of this year, more than 600,000 hectares have already burned across the EU alone, more than double the long-term average for this point in the year. What once felt like distant warnings are now lived experiences for millions of people.
Though climate change is one of the defining issues of our time, many organisations still struggle to talk about it effectively. Some worry about greenwashing accusations. Others fear appearing political. Many are simply unsure how to communicate a crisis that has become both urgent and paradoxically, normalised.
Between now and the end of the year, the sustainability calendar is packed with major international moments, from UNCCD COP17 and UNGA to Climate Week NYC, CBD COP17, COP31 and the G20. While each event has a different focus, together they reveal broader shifts in the issues, language and expectations shaping sustainability communications.
Here’s five overriding reflections about what the next four months of global events tell us about the future of sustainability comms.
1. Sustainability is being framed through business value. It’s time to move beyond announcements
There was a time when sustainability communications were dominated by commitments. Companies announced targets, governments launched strategies and organisations published ambitious pledges.
Today, audiences are asking a different question: what has actually changed?
As scrutiny grows, communicators need to focus less on ambition and more on implementation. What actions are being taken? What impact is being delivered? What challenges have been encountered along the way?
At the same time, the language surrounding sustainability is changing. Across the major events taking place between now and the end of the year, sustainability will increasingly be discussed through themes such as resilience, competitiveness, innovation, productivity and growth.
The underlying priorities may be familiar, but the framing is shifting. For communicators, that means translating sustainability outcomes into language that resonates with different audiences, whether that’s investors, policymakers, customers or employees. Credibility increasingly comes from evidence, relevance and transparency rather than announcements alone.
2. Nature, food, water and land are moving into the mainstream
Climate change remains central to the sustainability agenda, but it is no longer the only environmental story.
Events such as UNCCD COP17 and CBD COP17 are expected to elevate topics including land restoration, biodiversity, drought resilience, food systems and water security. Meanwhile, COP31 is likely to reinforce the connections between climate action, food production, resource efficiency and economic resilience.
The result is a growing recognition that environmental challenges cannot be tackled in isolation.
For communicators, this means moving away from siloed messaging. Rather than treating climate, nature and water as separate issues, organisations should look for ways to tell more integrated stories that reflect how these challenges intersect in the real world.
The organisations that communicate these connections clearly will be better positioned to engage audiences who increasingly view sustainability through a broader systems lens.
3. AI is becoming a sustainability issue, not just a technology story
AI features prominently across the global events agenda, as governments and businesses grapple with both its opportunities and impacts.
Discussions are expected to span everything from governance and digital inclusion to infrastructure, energy demand and environmental impacts.
This matters because AI is no longer being viewed solely through a technological lens. Questions are increasingly being asked about the resources required to power it and how organisations balance innovation with responsibility, particularly to its workforce.
For communicators, the challenge is to resist overly simplistic narratives. Audiences want to understand both the benefits and the trade-offs. As with sustainability more broadly, transparency is becoming more important than perfection.
The most credible organisations will be those that embrace complexity and communicate honestly about both progress and challenges.
4. Start with people, not policy
One of the biggest mistakes organisations make is leading with technical language.
Net zero pathways, carbon accounting and decarbonisation roadmaps may be important, but they are rarely what captures attention or builds engagement. People connect with lived experience.
The recent heatwaves and wildfires have reinforced that climate change is not an abstract environmental issue. It affects health, livelihoods, homes, food prices and community resilience.
As sustainability issues move further into mainstream conversations, communicators have an opportunity to connect global challenges with everyday realities. Facts matter, but people are far more likely to remember stories about how those challenges affect their lives.
5. Communications strategies need to be faster, broader and more connected
The concentration of major sustainability events over the coming months creates significant opportunities for thought leadership, earned media and stakeholder engagement.
But organisations no longer always need to be physically present at every event to be part of the conversation.
Success increasingly depends on combining proactive content with timely commentary, rapid response capabilities and coordinated social engagement. Just as importantly, communicators need to think beyond individual events and look at how these moments fit within longer-term narratives and campaigns.
The organisations that stand out will be those that use global moments as platforms for sustained influence, rather than treating them as isolated communications opportunities.
Looking ahead
Sustainability communications are becoming more connected, more complex and more focused on real-world outcomes.
Success will increasingly depend on moving beyond announcements, embracing complexity and telling stories that demonstrate why sustainability matters to people’s lives, businesses and communities.
The organisations that do that well won’t simply participate in the conversation. They’ll help shape it.
We’re Forster Communications, a specialist sustainability PR agency. Talk to us about your climate communications info@forster.co.uk