The Greenhushing Trap

Should companies still talk about their sustainability efforts — and, if so, how much? According to a July 2025 report, 39% of U.S. companies surveyed had reduced or stopped publicly promoting their sustainability investments even while maintaining or increasing them relative to 2024.

This retreat into silence — greenhushing — can undermine a company’s serious sustainability ambitions. Our recent research, based on a comprehensive analysis of 15 years of ESG data and 10-K filings, shows that companies that publicly communicate bold sustainability goals can trigger the internal processes, alignment, and momentum that make those goals more likely to be achieved — but excessive talk can impede this effect.

This inverted-U-shaped relationship between communication and action has three strategic implications for managers:

1. If you want to transform your business, you should talk. Communicating a company’s sustainability vision and goals clarifies the company’s identity for employees and focuses their attention on aligning actions with sustainability goals. It also increases accountability to external stakeholders to meet sustainability commitments.

2. Talk, but don’t overpromise. Overcommunication on sustainability can impede the realization of goals. Optimize the level of talk to balance aspiration with feasibility. Strive for clear sustainability goals that do not overstrain managers, avoid internal conflicts, and maintain credibility with external stakeholders.

3. Leave space between words and deeds. Sustainability transformation typically unfolds in stages. Initial communication sets the direction and expectations, symbolic steps build the necessary frameworks, and substantive change embeds sustainability into the core of the business. Recognizing and communicating these phases helps leaders manage expectations, maintain credibility, and sustain momentum — even when results take time to achieve.

The best approach, we find, is one of transparency. In this context, silence is not neutrality — it is a missed opportunity to lead the transformation.