The Impact Edit: Communicating Impact in a World That’s Tired of Promises
A year ago, conversations about impact reporting were centered on structure- which framework to follow, which indicators to include, how to keep up with the alphabet soup of ESG requirements.
Today, the mood is very different. The questions I hear from executives aren’t about scope or alignment anymore; they’re about whether to publish at all.
Legal teams are wary. Boards are cautious. Entire portfolios are “pausing” external reports so they can “rethink strategy.” And in the building industry, where the consequences of getting it wrong can be long-lasting, that instinct to retreat has become surprisingly common.
But if we look a little closer, the uncertainty people are responding to didn’t originate in the reports themselves. It came from years of communication designed to satisfy compliance rather than understanding.
For a long time, organizations produced reports that were technically correct and strategically unhelpful. They optimized for frameworks instead of stakeholders, volume instead of clarity, intention instead of evidence. Trust didn’t erode because the information was inaccurate—it eroded because the information wasn’t meaningful.
Now the market is adjusting. And in every adjustment, there’s an opening for the people who interpret the moment accurately.
Instead of slowing down, this is the moment to communicate impact with more precision, more transparency, and more relevance. The organizations that make their thinking visible now will stand out long before others recognize that silence was the riskier move.
What hasn’t changed, despite all the noise, are the fundamental questions that drive value.
Tenants still want to know whether a building supports their people. Health-certified offices continue to transact at 4.4%-7.7% higher effective rents than comparable non-certified spaces (MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab).
Occupants still expect clean air, healthy materials, and resilience they can see and feel.
Employees still evaluate whether their organization behaves in ways that align with their values.
Shareholders still demand clarity because risk doesn’t disappear when reporting does.According to the 2025 global C-suite sustainability survey, 78% of CEOs say clearer sustainability communication is now essential for managing stakeholder expectations and avoiding reputational risk. (Deloitte, 2025)
Communities still examine whether development creates stability or strain. In sectors like renewables, survey data show that projects canceled due to community opposition or permitting/social-license failures have incurred multi-million-dollar sunk costs LBNL, 2023).
The questions haven’t softened. They’ve sharpened. Which means that the market doesn’t need more claims, it needs proof.
Not the soft-edged kind we used to tuck into the back of a report. I mean the kind of clarity you can’t really argue with:
Relevance: evidence that you are paying attention to what actually matters.
Verifiability: an information trail that stands up when someone checks.
Impact : actual change, measured and visible.
This is the architecture of trust in 2026. And it’s also the architecture of differentiation.
Leaders who understand this aren’t asking, “Should we pull back?” They’re asking, “What are the metrics we want to be known for?” They’re designing communication that reflects how decisions are made, not how reports were once assembled. They’re building a level of clarity that doesn’t need defending because the logic is obvious.
I’ll share more next week about why the “S” in ESG has been historically difficult to articulate, and why buildings, of all things, might be the most powerful place to fix that.
Until then, I’d love to hear where your organization stands: Are you stepping back from external impact communication, or are you rethinking how to make it clearer?
The Conversation Continues...
This post is part of our ongoing exploration into how the market’s fatigue with empty promises is reshaping impact reporting, and why the safest strategic move isn't silence, but radical clarity and proof. As problem-solvers, we believe the best insights emerge when diverse perspectives meet. Have you encountered similar challenges or discovered different approaches? Share your story.
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