The Sustainability Communicator with Mike Hower

Most sustainability communicators don't have the title, the budget, or the C-suite access to force anyone to do anything. So how do they get things done? That's the question at the center of this conversation with Aman Singh, Director of Global ESG and Sustainability Communications at Kenvue—the company behind Tylenol, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Listerine, and a long list of other household names. Aman has spent her career figuring out how to move organizations from the inside—at Walmart, at Edelman, and now at Kenvue—and her answer isn't what most people expect. It's not about better data, sharper messaging, or more compelling reports. It's about relationships, timing, and learning to speak other people's language before you ask them to speak yours. In this episode, we get into what "influencing without authority" actually looks like in practice, why the old volume-equals-visibility playbook is finished, how to navigate the current era of greenhushing without hiding in fear, and what makes sustainability communicators effective versus annoying. We also talk about our shared career paths—journalism, agencies, consulting—and what it really means to build a purposeful career in a field that didn't exist when most of us started. If sustainability communication is your full-time job or your side hustle, this one's for you.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Erik Hansen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Workday, to explore how CSOs have evolved into the lead communicators for corporate sustainability. Erik shares insights on building trust through transparency, making the business case for sustainability initiatives, and how companies are increasingly being asked detailed sustainability questions in hundreds of RFPs. The conversation covers practical strategies for working with legal teams on compliant communications, measuring the success of sustainability storytelling, and thinking beyond company silos to advocate for industry-wide change.

In this episode, host Mike Hower sits down with Dan Strechay, a seasoned sustainability communications professional who has worked across private companies, public organizations, and NGOs. They discuss the evolution of sustainability communications, how to navigate difficult topics like palm oil and climate change, and the balance between transparency and greenwashing. Dan shares insights from his career journey and offers practical advice for companies looking to communicate authentically about their sustainability efforts. This conversation, recorded in late 2024, remains relevant as sustainability professionals navigate the changing landscape of reporting requirements and stakeholder expectations.

As corporate sustainability teams shift to focus on regulatory and compliance, more sustainability professionals are spending a lot of time creating sustainability reports. These massive PDFs can sometimes be up to 100 pages or more and take many months to develop. Love them or hate them, sustainability reports are here to stay. And the process can take its toll on the people who create them – both for in house folk and consultants. In this episode, Mike sits down to talk with Dunia Namugayi, a sustainability reporting expert who has gone through many reporting cycles and can speak to how she maintains personal sustainability through the ups and downs of creating effective reports.

The profession of being a sustainability communicator is relatively new – and seems to be evolving with each passing day. Success in this emerging field requires understanding the intricate goals and objectives of both sustainability and marketing teams, and developing the unique skill of translating between these often disparate organizational functions. In this episode, Mike delves into the field's evolution over the past few decades through the lens of Jessica Appelgren, a remarkable professional with unmatched depth and breadth of experience in sustainability communication.

As global temperatures continue to rise and we see the negative effects of a warming world, it’s becoming clear that businesses can’t address the climate crisis through voluntary action alone. Businesses need good policy to shape the rules of engagement that unlock private sector innovation to tackle tough sustainability challenges like climate. Many companies with sound corporate sustainability strategies aren’t speaking up in the policy arena for fear of alienating customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders. In this episode, Mike speaks with Bill Weihl and Deborah McNamara of ClimateVoice a nonprofit that leverages the power of corporate influence from climate-positive companies to win crucial policy battles. Without getting too political, we explore the challenges companies face around advocating on climate policy, and the opportunities they face in ensuring that they back up their sustainability communication with policy action.

The role of the CSO has changed significantly over the years, from a backroom marketing function to being key figures in their company’s business operation and growth. Roughly 183 public companies in the U.S. now employ a CSO, up from 29 in 2011, according to a recent report from recruiter Weinreb Group. Of those, more than three-quarters sit on the company’s leadership team while just over a third report directly to the CEO. With this elevated status comes increasing responsibility for CSOs to be the chief communicator of a company's social and environmental efforts — both internally and externally. Yet with many CSOs coming from technical backgrounds, they aren’t always prepared to be the person behind the podium. In this episode, Mike connects with Ellen Weinreb, one of the world’s leading sustainability recruiters who has worked with countless CSOs over the years, to better understand the ever-evolving role of the CSO and what this means for sustainability communication.

Now that we’re halfway through 2024, it’s safe to say that ESG has been having a “complicated” year. With the anti-ESG backlash having been largely successful scaring many companies to backtrack or downplay their social and environmental work, the future of ESG remains unclear. Despite all of this, companies must strive to maintain an “ESG mindset”, according to Matt Sekol, author of the book “ESG Mindset” and Sustainability Global Black Belt at Microsoft. And in this effort, sustainability communicators have an important role to play. In this episode, Mike speaks with Matt about his new book, ESG Mindset, to help us better understand the confusion around ESG – and how sustainability communicators can help clear it up.

The fashion industry faces its own unique set of ESG and sustainability challenges. Understanding how to communicate complex sustainability challenges to diverse consumer audiences is critical for companies as they progress on their journeys. In this episode, Mike speaks with Ali Mize, an ESG and sustainability expert to learn more about Neiman Marcus Group’s approach to sustainability storytelling, and how companies can improve sustainability communication overall.

Over the past few years, the surge in energy in corporate sustainability has been fueled by renewed investor interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG). Sparked by Larry Fink’s 2020 investor letter, this seemed to signal a new era of investor enthusiasm for ESG information from companies they invest in. However, the anti-ESG rhetoric and increasing politicization of ESG has caused many companies to backtrack. Many companies continue to guess at what investors want from them on the ESG front. In this episode, Mike chats with Grant Harrison, Vice President of Sustainable Finance and ESG at GreenBiz, to better understand the current ESG investment landscape and how companies can better engage investors with non-financial information.

The video game industry is just now “pressing start” on corporate sustainability. With comparatively low levels of resource intensity and often complex chains of custody and responsibility for social and environmental impacts, many video game makers are just now figuring out their sustainability strategies. Even still, communicating sustainability in this sector faces its own challenges and opportunities. To better understand how the video game industry is approaching sustainability storytelling, Mike connected with Neil Patel, Senior Director of Sustainability at Take Two Interactive Software — owner of Rockstar Games, which produces the popular Grand Theft Auto Franchise.

Sustainability storytelling is more important — and complicated — than ever. With so many changing expectations and regulations around sustainability storytelling, knowing how to effectively social and environmental impact is a top challenge for companies across the globe. In this episode, Mike brings in the expertise of a fellow sustainability communications expert — Whitney Dailey, Executive Vice President, Purpose at the global public relations firm Allison Worldwide — to better understand how companies can navigate sustainability storytelling in 2024.

Writing is a lost art for many sustainability professionals. But the ability to write well continues to be critical for communicating social and environmental challenges effectively. In this episode of The Sustainability Communicator, Mike discusses key learnings from over a decade as a write and editor in the corporate sustainability space that form the fundamentals of effective sustainability writing.