Many companies are moving to silence their efforts around environmental, social and governance matters. But greenhushing can be as bad as greenwashing. This trend also conveys a lack of self-confidence in their own communications, creating a challenge for advisors. Silence isn’t always golden.
What the “responsible investment gap” tells us
You might have heard about this statistics from the Responsible Investment Association (RIA): 76% of Canada’s retail investors say they would like their financial advisor or institution to be required to ask them specific questions about responsible investment (RI) considerations that align with their personal values. However, only 28% said their financial services provider had ever posed such questions.
Perhaps even more important is the fact that this responsible investment (RI) gap, as the RIA calls it, has been persisting. This illustrates how communications can be a barrier to further development of RI but also, if properly addressed, a conduit for RI growth.
Here’s how the financial sector can reframe its ESG communications:
Audit your language choices
Even when well-intentioned, communications framed around “the good thing to do” can backfire. And they have. This is because they are morally charged: no one likes to be judged, and everyone is entitled to their opinion.
This especially happens when companies or people don’t live by the values they advertise: when you claim integrity but your organization is fined for poor governance, or you claim inclusion and your Glassdoor account is full of comments about discriminatory practices.
Beyond ESG and DEI, it’s your whole framing that needs to be assessed. Is responsible investment, for instance, when treated separately from “traditional” investment, pushing so-called traditional investors into a potentially judgmental “non-responsible” bucket?
There might be merit in integrating responsible and traditional investments in conversations. After all, there is nothing new about the concept of governance. What goes into it has evolved, lately with concerns related to data security and privacy with the democratization of artificial intelligence. But these concerns are generally shared across the board, providing a conduit to talk about governance, a familiar concept.
Emphasize financial materiality
The financial implications of companies in an investment portfolio are still key to investors.
Consider a poll conducted in June by the Angus Reid Institute, which found that even as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was criticized for not supporting domestic projects enough, seven-in-10 (72%) said fiduciary obligations should remain paramount. In other words, when asked if they feel the fund should invest wherever it earns the greatest returns or invest more in Canada, respondents across age and income levels prioritize profits over patriotism.
And this is at a time when buying Canadian is important to the population. Context matters. Canadians are also your investors. Always be aware of this context in your communications framing and keep evolving your communications accordingly.
Educate without unintentionally denigrating
Morally charged terms can render your efforts to educate denigrating. Yet education is more important than ever.
The Capgemini Research Institute World Wealth Report 2025 found that “68% of baby boomers want younger generations to receive financial education to manage their soon-to-be-inherited wealth effectively.”
This presents an exceptional opportunity. But keep in mind that younger generations tend to follow people rather than companies: This requires communication tools that facilitate online discussions rather than monologues in the form of one-way reports.
Be proactive and explain your assumptions
When using terms like “science-based targets”, widely popular among sustainability and investment professionals, defining what this science is should be the first step because approaching conversations with assumptions presented as the absolute truth is unlikely to foster dialogue.
Dialogue also means respecting everyone’s view.
Randolph Haluza-DeLay, a former associate professor, reminded us in his research that “All people see phenomena like climate change through the prisms of their existing ideas, values, influence of significant others, socio-structural position and personal experience.” They expect these to be respected.
Failure to respect other narratives has created space of alternative views considered as misinformation. In turn, organizations have had to constantly “debunk” myths such as the lack of performance in responsible investments. Yet “prebunking” (preemptive refutation) has been proved to be more effective than debunking in reducing misinformation.
Organizations and advisors should therefore move to a more proactive approach in their communications by inoculating audiences before they encounter misinformation.
Leverage Artificial Intelligence for personalization
AI It provides the capacity for more sustained and personal conversations, which younger investors are favouring. Now is the time to explore how to integrate AI in the communications workflow to drive powerful language strategies. Yes, language strategies: because more than what you say, it’s what people hear that matters. This applies beyond your ESG communications.
The Opportunity Ahead
Organisations that reframe their ESG communications approach won’t just avoid the pitfalls of greenhushing. They will be better positioned to serve investors during the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history.
The industry has the tools and the client interest. What’s needed now is to shift to a more strategic use of the communications function to drive more impactful conversations.
After covering financial services for two decades as a journalist and providing in-house communications advice to financial institutions, I’ve seen firms successfully navigate much more complex challenges.
