Most sustainability communication fails, not because people don’t care, but because brands keep talking to the wrong audience, in the wrong moment, with the wrong tone.

Most sustainability communication fails, not because people don’t care, but because brands keep talking to the wrong audience, in the wrong moment, with the wrong tone.

Sustainability communication isn’t a PowerPoint. It’s an emotion. And if you want to move people, you must connect before you convince.

People aren’t tired of sustainability. They’re tired of bad communication.

The Sustainability Illusion: Talking to the Few, Ignoring the Many

For the past five years, The NXT Consumer Research Series has tracked how people across the Nordics and Germany engage with sustainability. The data is clear: consumers care. But not all in the same way.

We developed the Sustainable Consumer Readiness Index to simplify this complexity, mapping how ready consumers are to act on sustainability as part of everyday life.

What we found challenges how most brands communicate:

• 14% – The Dedicated Pioneers: Values-led frontrunners who live and breathe sustainability. They read the reports, repair their jackets, and expect systemic change. They are small in number but huge in cultural influence.

• 30% – The Proof Seekers: Skeptical activists with activist hearts. They’re emotionally invested but tired of empty promises. They don’t want slogans; they want receipts, transparency, and progress they can track.

• 32% – The Eco-Floaters: The emotionally engaged but behaviorally adrift. They care about the planet but lack direction. They want to feel good doing good, to see sustainability made simple, stylish, and socially rewarding.

Together, these three mindsets represent 76% of the market, a vast group that believes sustainability matters but needs brands to meet them halfway, to guide, nudge, and help.

And yet, most communication is still built for the 14% or even worse, against them, leaving the majority confused, overwhelmed, or indifferent.

Does Sustainability really sell? Yes, but not on its own.

The Moment That Matters: From Point of Sale to Point of Emotion

The second problem is timing. Most sustainability messaging is force fed at the point of sale, mainly because sales, CEO and CFO want's ROI from sustainability initiatives, but the consumer just wants to buy whats nice, affordable and functional, not think to much.

And according to the 95/5 Rule (Ehrenberg-Bass Institute), only 5% of your audience is in the market right now to buy our product. The other 95% are out of the market, not looking to buy, but open to influence.

That’s where brand-building communication matters most. Because when the buying moment finally comes, the decision has already been made in the mind, not in the store.

If your sustainability message only appears on a hangtag or POS display, it’s already too late. The consumer isn’t in the mood to analyze. They’re in the mood to choose.

That’s why sustainability storytelling must live in the branding moment, where curiosity, inspiration, and imagination meet.

From Information to Emotion

One of the biggest traps brands fall into is believing that communication equals information. But people don’t need more data; they need meaning.

In Germany, 68% of consumers say they feel overwhelmed by sustainability messaging. At the same time, 79% wish they had more knowledge about how to live sustainably.

That’s the paradox: people want to understand, but they don’t want to be educated with pointing fingers by brands. So instead of information, we must create edutainment, communication that informs through inspiration.

In my work at Above The Clouds, I use a framework built on three creative pillars:

Amuse & Entertain - Capture attention through curiosity and culture. Make doing good feel good. Educate & Inspire - Simplify complex topics into relatable stories and micro-actions. Immerse & Discover - Invite people into experiences, not explanations. Let them feel part of the change.

Old VS New - Let's have a look at 2.2 million likes on a video about ballast stones.

When you shift the lens from informing to inspiring, you move from pushing facts to building relevance.

Bridging Insight and Activation

True sustainability communication isn’t a campaign; it’s a collaboration. It’s when marketing, product, and sales work together to create value, not just capture it.

This is the foundation of my Concepts & Activations work at Above The Clouds. Helping brands translate insight into action, turning sustainability from a compliance task into a cultural movement and brand equity.

Real impact isn’t built with information. It’s built with imagination, empathy, and execution.

Brands that succeed understand that communication is not the final layer of a sustainability story, it’s the engine that gives it cultural life.

The Takeaway

People don’t reject sustainability; they reject how we talk about it. The future belongs to brands that dare to blend creativity with credibility, proof with personality, and data with desire.

To earn value, we must create value. And to create value, we must first understand people. That’s the next frontier of sustainable communication, and it’s where the real opportunity lies. Don't miss out on how this could be accelerated with your brand during a 3-4 week sprint session or during a longer Winning Game Strategy Project. Or just send me an e-mail ...