Why sustainability teams need to learn to speak the language of business

If you speak more than one language, you might have noticed that how you talk, think and even feel can change depending on which language you’re using. The same applies to the "‘professional languages" we speak in our jobs – whether marketing or finance, there’s a whole vocabulary at play. For sustainability professionals, that can be a problem.

As sustainability professionals, we have created our own professional language that does not help us drive impact and change. Instead, using the same vocabulary and metrics as our finance colleagues will help us to stay relevant and gain momentum in the boardroom, especially in a world where both the function and the profession are being challenged.

After all, there’s no doubt that sustainability is facing headwinds. Sceptics are becoming more vocal, and even committed believers are struggling under the weight of competing priorities. For the sustainability community, this moment of crisis also represents an opportunity to refocus on materiality and – crucially – to rethink our language. Only by speaking the language of business can sustainability professionals ensure that sustainability remains business-relevant.

For the sustainability function, speaking the language of business means expressing the benefits of sustainability initiatives in financial terms and quantifiable metrics – such as value creation, growth, cost savings and risk reduction. When you highlight the contributions that sustainability initiatives make to (for example) product differentiation, brand reputation, operational efficiency and talent attraction, you’re truly speaking the language of business.

To illustrate this: a proposal for a €5 million energy-efficiency investment with a four-year payback and 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ savings may be rejected due to the payback being longer than three years. Reframing it as a project with €1.3 million annual savings, a 25% internal rate of return, positive net present value and avoided carbon price exposure could result in a quick approval. It’s the same project, with the same numbers. By using a different language, the outcome can be different.

Furthermore, sustainability teams need to be fluent in materiality: which issues are most significant to the business? Across the environmental, social and governance spectrum, there are countless topics and issues to consider. This makes it all the more important that we think carefully about materiality. What are the challenges we need to solve? Where can we make a real difference?

Smart, carefully prioritized investments in sustainability will pay off – whether by improving profitability, enhancing supply chain resilience or attracting top talent. In turn, this strong business focus will help prove the strategic value of sustainability. This isn’t about diminishing or compromising sustainability’s positive impact in the world; on the contrary, translating sustainability into strategy will grow our impact alongside our business.

At the nutrition, health and beauty company dsm-firmenich, we work to make our business more sustainable and deliver greater positive impact – and the company’s work provides an example of exactly how sustainability professionals can speak the language of business to deliver impact.

The company is focusing on two strategic transformations: making data the new sustainability currency and innovating for impact.

Typically, sustainability teams don’t control or own physical assets or brands within companies. Our role is to bring together cross-functional teams and influence colleagues and value-chain partners alike to adopt more sustainable practices. But there’s one key asset we do control: sustainability data. And with new regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, we are required to collect even more of this valuable capital.

But compliance is just the starting point. Improving data quality is not only for compliance, but for adding value. It enables scenario planning and impact analysis, and in turn helps to build business cases that drive value for companies and society at large. Traditionally, many corporate sustainability performance metrics are applied at the enterprise level (Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions being good examples). Today, it’s increasingly clear that sustainability teams need to shift the focus to the product and customer level. This means moving beyond disconnected data silos and fragmented digital products and solutions towards an orchestrated, end-to-end digital value chain that connects product design with market impact.

dsm-firmenich is embedding sustainability criteria into purchasing decisions, product design tools and product innovation stage gates – for example, by applying an ‘end-in-mind approach’ when innovating to improve sustainability. The company is also working with organizations like the World Business Council for Sustainable Development to shape a product portfolio assessment framework, which allows companies to conduct portfolio reporting on a comparable basis.

By setting clear metrics, organizations can steer portfolios to deliver real impact for people, planet and profit.

Impactful corporate sustainability doesn’t mean choosing between financial performance and sustainability. Instead, it means sharpening thinking and communication to prove the business case for sustainability as a strategic growth engine. That starts with replacing abstract ambitions with targeted focus areas that are material to the business and its customers – and swapping sustainability jargon for the vocabulary of profitability, resilience and opportunity. When everyone’s talking the same language about strategic growth and value creation, the importance of sustainability in business decision-making speaks for itself.

So, if you’re a sustainability professional looking to learn a new language in the new year, make it the language of business – a resolution that will give your role a whole new meaning in 2026 and beyond.