April 23, 2026
Companies have begun sharing their 2025 sustainability reports, and we are once again seeing them walk a fine line. In response to continued scrutiny and a polarized environment, many are softening language, narrowing disclosures or delaying reports altogether. At the same time, expectations for transparency and accountability remain high among certain stakeholder groups, and this balancing act has certainly kept those of us in the sustainability field on our toes.
I’m excited to head to the American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care® and Sustainability Conference next week to hear firsthand how chemical companies are navigating this tension. In working with companies in this complex space, we recognize that the path to sustainability is rarely linear. Advancing sustainability priorities often involves long innovation and commercialization cycles, capital-intensive infrastructure changes, complex global supply chains and the continued prioritization of safety, quality and environmental impact. Even the best-intentioned companies often experience times when progress is slower than anticipated, and it can be tough to maintain credibility when you’re falling behind on your targets.
How progress is communicated can carry as much weight as the progress itself. Stakeholders such as ratings agencies, regulators, NGOs, supply chains and customers continue to expect clear articulation of performance, challenges and direction. When that clarity is absent, assumptions tend to fill the gap. Unfortunately, the assumption is often that the company is no longer doing the work.
One of the more challenging dynamics is that expectations are not static. Regulatory priorities, investor focus and NGO scrutiny can shift or intensify quickly around emerging issues. As a result, some organizations are beginning to take a more proactive approach by scanning for emerging sustainability, regulatory and stakeholder pressures and identifying potential credibility or greenwashing risks before disclosures are finalized. This type of forward-looking lens can help flag where language may be misinterpreted, where claims may be challenged or where additional context is needed before information is shared publicly.
These efforts point to a broader shift in how sustainability communication is viewed, with less focus on broadcasting progress and more on continuously calibrating how that progress is understood and why it is proceeding a certain way. Direct engagement with stakeholders can play a significant role in supporting this, providing a way to:
- Test assumptions about how disclosures will be interpreted
- Identify gaps between company intent and audience perception
- Refine how complex issues are explained in real time
Ideally, conversations with investors, customers, employees, suppliers and other key stakeholder groups are happening regularly, but it’s not always easy to get that feedback, especially in real-time when a shift occurs. Dix & Eaton has the ability to simulate audience panels who think and act like a company’s actual stakeholders using AI, which could be used to test reactions to messaging about sustainability progress and delays. My colleague Mihaela Grad explained how these panels work in a recent blog post.
The people who directly interact with your stakeholder groups are also vital sources of feedback. Engage those in sales, HR, IR and government affairs to connect with their contacts and report the questions and concerns they’re hearing. While not as diligent of a process as double materiality, these ongoing pulse checks can help companies strengthen how they talk about their sustainability journey and prepare for areas of pushback or misunderstanding.
As sustainability expectations continue to shift, success won’t be defined by the companies that avoid setbacks, but by the companies best prepared to explain them. Communicating reality in a way that stakeholders can understand, evaluate and trust will be key to maintaining credibility and momentum, even when the journey is taking longer than expected.
I’d love to hear how your company’s sustainability story is evolving to align with stakeholder expectations. Send me an email and let’s connect!
