Supporting Change Agents Around the World

Marsha Willard, Ph.D., SEP • December 9, 2020

There is no argument that the world is facing a host of existential challenges. We look to our leaders to guide us successfully through these times, but in the end, it will require many hands to do the work. No other profession is as uniquely qualified to advance the knowledge, the skills, and the direction that those hands will need as the field of sustainability.


From industry leaders to forward-looking professionals, we saw this coming as early as 30 years ago. When I entered the field in the mid-1990’s, I was inspired by the early-adopter organizations that were making bold moves to be the first to test and try the sustainability strategies being created to help transform business and government. My experience as a sustainability consultant put me in touch with inspiring professionals across many organizations, all tapped to lead the sustainability effort in their respective workplaces. Because this was new, few if any of these people had any training or education in sustainability, and most were working in isolation, trying single-handedly to make change happen.


While intentions were noble, our efforts often felt disjointed and unlikely to achieve the unified coordination that the issues required. Four of us in Portland, Oregon, thought we had a solution to this problem. If indeed it would take an army to affect the kind of change we needed, then we would create the organization that would amass and organize that army. Our mission for ISSP, which we launched in 2007, was to connect all these disparate people working around the world so that they could share tools, knowledge, experiences, missteps, and achievements. We wanted the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) to be the “go-to source” for anyone trying to do this work. The growth of ISSP over the years suggests that there was a felt need for this professional community to come together. Since that beginning 14 years ago, we’ve not only provided a platform for the training, resourcing, and networking of thousands of professionals internationally, we’ve also codified our professional practice, established standards of performance, and developed professional credentials to advance the field.


When we began ISSP, our notion was that if the sustainability effort worldwide was successful, then the need for our profession would disappear: we would have achieved our vision of making sustainability standard practice across all business, governmental, and community operations.


Well, we’re not quite there yet. We find that the urgency to achieve this goal is only increasing, and ISSP is needed now more than ever. Yet in the face of an increasingly dire situation — escalating social and economic inequity, rampaging wildfires, ocean fishes displaced by plastic — the compounding events across our globe appear to be putting some wind in the sails of our profession. The results of the recent election in the United States will likely put my country back into the Paris Climate Agreement; as of this year, renewable energy is now the cheapest way to produce energy – historically, ever; and investors like BlackRock are shifting investments away from fossil fuels and socially irresponsible businesses. These are opportunities to be seized.


ISSP is well positioned to accelerate the change we need. As ISSP looks to the coming decade, we aim to broaden our reach and impact. By building our professional community, providing the necessary resources to advance our profession, collaborating with organizations whose missions overlap with ours, and expanding our education partnerships, ISSP is committed to leading all professionals to a future where sustainability is indeed standard practice. Our vision will then be achieved.


About the Author:

Marsha Willard, SEP
Faculty, Sustainable Social Impact MBA and DBA Programs, Saybrook University
Co-founder & Governing Board Member, ISSP

Read perspectives from the ISSP blog

By Ioannis Ioannou, PhD June 19, 2025
London Business School Professor Ioannis Ioannou, PhD examines the vulnerable narrative infrastructure surrounding ESG. By collaboratively engaging those most affected by ESG transitions—indigenous peoples, workers, young people, small businesses, and communities, particularly in the Global South—we can foster the trust, legitimacy, and collective commitment for meaningful progress. Who Gets to Tell the Story of ESG? For more than a decade, ESG rapidly evolved from a specialized investor consideration into an elaborate global infrastructure of standards, metrics, taxonomies, and disclosure frameworks. Investor attention soared, corporate sustainability teams grew exponentially, and ESG vocabulary— climate risk, fiduciary duty, and double materiality—became firmly embedded in corporate boardrooms and regulatory discussions globally. Yet, despite ESG’s impressive institutional and technical advancements, the narrative meant to support it remained remarkably fragile. While ESG developed sophisticated standards, disclosures, and metrics, it never invested in the narrative infrastructure to explain its purpose, build public understanding, or secure legitimacy beyond institutional circles. Without the broader stakeholder engagement and effective storytelling that would connect ESG to people’s lived realities, it became vulnerable. Critics didn’t need to challenge carbon accounting or materiality frameworks; instead, they recast ESG as a job killer, an elite agenda, or an unwelcome intrusion into everyday life. The backlash caught many ESG professionals off guard, though the warning signs were visible. ESG’s rapid adoption by investors and regulatory bodies created an illusion of momentum, but this obscured a deeper structural gap. ESG rarely connected meaningfully with those directly affected by ESG-driven transitions—workers facing disruption, small business owners adapting to shifting expectations, and communities, particularly in vulnerable regions, confronting real and immediate climate risks. For these groups, ESG often seemed abstract, distant, and disconnected from their daily concerns. Narrative infrastructure might sound like an unusual concept, but it's foundational to widespread support. It connects people and institutions, conveys meaning, and determines whether ESG is seen as genuine leadership or merely corporate branding. Robust narrative infrastructure ensures resilience under political pressure; without it, initiatives can rapidly lose whatever public approval they may have had. Constructing narrative infrastructure requires explicitly recognizing storytelling— and who contributes to that storytelling—as integral to ESG strategy, not simply a communications exercise. Effective narratives generate trust precisely because they emerge from transparent dialogue, clear accountability, and inclusive stakeholder engagement. By contrast, greenwashing uses storytelling deceptively, aiming to conceal poor performance, and deflect scrutiny. Strong narrative infrastructure, unlike greenwashing, strengthens credibility and legitimacy by openly connecting ESG commitments to shared realities, tangible actions, and measurable outcomes. It is a fundamental strategic asset for ESG success. Importantly, narrative infrastructure also concerns who gets to tell these stories. Over the last decade, the central narrators of the ESG story have largely been institutional actors: executives, investors, sustainability professionals, academics, and regulators. Their contributions have been invaluable, driven by expertise, rigor, and genuine commitment. Yet these narrators also represent a relatively narrow perspective, shaped by institutional backgrounds and professional incentives. Many important voices have remained largely excluded from shaping ESG narratives: indigenous people whose lives are often fundamentally changed by corporate activities, workers whose livelihoods are directly impacted by ESG transitions, young people deeply invested in future outcomes, small businesses continuously adapting to new ESG-related requirements, and especially communities—particularly in the Global South —directly facing the worst of climate disruptions. While these stakeholders' experiences occasionally appear within ESG reporting, they seldom influenced strategy or shape decisions in a substantial way. This exclusion poses significant, practical risks. Stakeholders naturally resist initiatives perceived as imposed from above or disconnected from their lived realities—not necessarily because they oppose ESG’s goals, but because they feel unheard and invisible within such ESG narratives. The resistance appears as political backlash, active public scepticism, or disengagement, all severely undermining ESG’s legitimacy, effectiveness, and public support. Addressing this critical weakness requires deliberately building ESG’s narrative infrastructure through inclusive, collaborative, and ongoing engagement. Practically, companies should move beyond occasional or reactive consultations toward sustained processes where stakeholders actively shape strategies. This can involve establishing community advisory boards with real decision-making power, participatory scenario planning that integrates diverse local perspectives, and internal cross-functional councils that ensure workers, communities, and youth voices directly influence ESG outcomes. 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It requires supporting initiatives that improve public understanding of ESG standards and practices, funding research that evaluates public perceptions of ESG alongside traditional financial metrics and ensuring ESG disclosures transparently reflect diverse stakeholder concerns. ESG narrative legitimacy grows stronger when diverse perspectives genuinely shape how ESG commitments are determined and communicated, implemented, and monitored—not merely as token inclusions, but as integral, strategic components of ESG itself. Regulators have an essential role in shaping ESG narrative infrastructure. Current ESG disclosure standards typically prioritize technical accuracy and financial materiality, mostly targeting investor needs. Broadening these frameworks to explicitly incorporate public legitimacy could significantly enhance ESG’s impact. For example, regulators could introduce clear criteria assessing whether companies effectively communicate their ESG strategies to diverse stakeholders and evaluate how these communications influence brand value and reputational risk—approaches already emerging in Europe’s Green Claims Directive and the CSRD/ESRS focus on double materiality. Additionally, policy evaluations could systematically measure whether ESG initiatives are genuinely perceived as fair, inclusive, and beneficial by the communities they affect. Public support and trust require deliberate and continuous effort; they cannot be assumed or taken for granted. Fortunately, inspiring examples of effective ESG narrative infrastructure already exist. Companies like Patagonia have openly integrated supplier and worker voices into their ESG narratives, transparently highlighting labour practices and sourcing standards, significantly enhancing their credibility. Unilever’s inclusive “living wage” campaigns have similarly leveraged stories from frontline workers to connect ESG metrics with tangible social outcomes, strengthening stakeholder trust. Industry-specific initiatives, such as the Bangladesh Accord in apparel, demonstrate how authentically incorporating diverse stakeholder experiences—including employees, unions, and community representatives—into ESG reporting can reinforce accountability and legitimacy. These examples highlight how inclusive storytelling, grounded in genuine stakeholder participation, can transform ESG commitments from abstract promises into credible actions with real-world impact. ESG professionals now face an exciting strategic opportunity: intentionally building a narrative infrastructure that's genuinely inclusive, collaborative, and resilient. Yes, involving diverse stakeholders means navigating complexity, dialogue, and occasionally tough compromises. It also means embracing participatory processes that might feel messier or less predictable. But it's exactly this diversity of voices and collective authorship that generates persuasive, robust narratives—ones that not only resonate widely but can confidently withstand shifts in politics, culture, and public sentiment. Beyond strengthening ESG's narrative infrastructure, it's important for ESG professionals to step back and consider sustainability more broadly. By explicitly linking ESG narratives to overarching sustainability objectives—such as respecting planetary boundaries and enabling a just transition—professionals can better illustrate how financial markets, corporate strategies, and policy frameworks actively support broader ecological and social well-being. Making these broader connections explicit can deepen trust, enhance engagement, and ensure the interconnected ESG-sustainability story resonates meaningfully with all those whose futures depend on it. We stand at a turning point, facing a critical opportunity to strengthen ESG’s narrative foundations. While ESG’s narrative fragility has been clearly exposed, this moment also offers an inspiring chance to intentionally build a more inclusive, credible, and resilient narrative infrastructure. The future of sustainability depends not only on rigorous metrics or detailed disclosures, but ultimately on whether those whose lives are impacted recognize themselves clearly in its story. By authentically amplifying diverse voices, explicitly connecting ESG initiatives to broader sustainability goals, and developing narratives rooted in real-world experiences, we can foster the trust, legitimacy, and collective commitment necessary for meaningful and lasting progress.
By Alex Smith June 4, 2025
Join the ISSP Programming Committee: Shape the Future of Sustainability Learning! Are you passionate about sustainability and eager to help professionals grow their skills and leadership? The International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) is seeking volunteers to join our 2026 Programming Committee! What’s Involved? Collaborate with a diverse team to plan impactful webinars and interactive working sessions. Help select topics, speakers, and resources that empower sustainability professionals worldwide. Commit to two monthly Zoom meetings (one 90-minute working session and one 60-minute full committee meeting). Spend 2-5 hours monthly researching ideas and contributors. Why Volunteer? Make a meaningful impact in the sustainability field. Gain hands-on experience in program development and nonprofit leadership. Connect with a network of like-minded sustainability professionals. Receive recognition for your valuable contributions. Key Dates: Application Deadline: June 23, 2025, 8am ET Meetings begin August 2025 (all virtual via Zoom) Ready to help shape sustainability education and make a difference? Sign up here to join a community dedicated to advancing sustainability worldwide!
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