Greenhushing mustn’t become default, warn ex-CEOs and corporate chairs

Chairs of Ahold Delhaize, Philips and Anglo American among authors of paper on navigating sustainability headwinds

A group of current and former corporate leaders have urged their peers not to let greenhushing become the norm.

The Council on Sustainability Transformation, whose seven members include the ex- CEOs of IKEA, Anglo American, E.ON and Royal DSM, has published a guide to navigating the headwinds currently facing corporate sustainability.

“Businesses face a convergence of geopolitical, economic, and societal challenges that compete for attention with sustainability, which is forcing a recalibration of the corporate sustainability agenda,” the Council observed.

One way companies are avoiding being dragged into the political debate about whether they are doing enough, or too much, to support green and social objectives is to keep quiet about their efforts, it acknowledged.

But the Council insisted this practice, known as greenhushing, “should not become the default”.

“Systemic change requires transparency as well as visible and accountable leadership,” wrote the group, which is convened by environmental consultancy ERM.

“It also plays a crucial role in countering false narratives,” the report continued, describing publicly-disclosed success stories as “the lifeblood of effective sustainability communication”.

The Council, whose members currently hold chair and board member positions at companies including Ahold Delhaize, Philips and Anglo American, was established to influence the thinking of other senior executives at global firms.

This is its second paper.

It comes as the Financial Times reported yesterday that a drop in green bond issuance from the US had been driven in part by companies’ newfound reluctance to label their activities as environmentally-beneficial, for fear of getting on the wrong side of President Donald Trump.

US companies accounted for less than $25bn of total issuance between January and May, according to the latest figures from the Climate Bonds Initiative. This compared with more than $43bn in the same period last year, and marks the lowest levels since 2021.

In Canada this week, execs have been pushing back against recent changes to the country’s Competition Act, which give authorities more power to punish firms that can’t evidence their sustainability claims.

Speaking to CBC, executive chair and former CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, Michael McCain, said the move would increase greenhushing by Canadian firms.

He added that it was “patently unreasonable” to expect companies to invest millions into green initiatives “and not be able to shout from the mountaintop [about] the good things that we’re doing”.

The Council’s report noted that, while there was pressure to rethink sustainability commitments in parts of North America and Europe, this is not the case in Asia.

“Climate-related regulation is gathering momentum in jurisdictions like Singapore and Malaysia,” it said.

“At the same time, in China, the combined forces of policy and industry have elevated the country to unprecedented levels of market and technological dominance in sectors such as solar, electric vehicles, and the production and processing of the critical minerals crucial to advanced low-carbon technologies.”