Involving stakeholders in organizational decisions is essential in the present sustainability movement, associated with the social license to operate and specific forms of communication in, from and about organizations with an impact orientation. This paper introduces a concept of strategic problematization of sustainability for transformation as innovative approach to Public Relations (PR), acknowledging the plurality of agonistic voices in stakeholder engagement processes in social, cultural and environmental transformations and challenging the normative concept of dialogue and solution- and consensus-oriented approaches to date. The article discusses the transformative potential of PR by reframing dissent and introducing problematization as ability to agonize and, therefore, as key process of constructive strategic communication for sustainable development. Three conversational procedures in water (scarcity) management on a local, national and international level were chosen to explore the potential of strategic problematization in relation to sustainability as normative framework of today’s society. The implications of the case studies and the conceptual framework expand existing engagement theories with a critical perspective and manifest the transformative potential of PR for a sustainable future.

Narratives represent storied ways of knowing and communicating. Therefore, storytelling, framing and narrative analyses have always been a key feature in media and communication research. In this paper, an innovative approach to narrative inquiries is introduced to capture reflections on individual experiences of sustainability over time. Storytelling is perceived as an act of problematization and, at the same time, as method of analysis. Using Rory’s Story Cubes® (dices with pictograms), we stimulated 35 interviewees from various cultural backgrounds (Asian, European, Anglo-American) to story life events that they relate to sustainability and put it into order and meaning. Our analysis and evaluation of the interviews focused on the story as a whole, which was then linked to the individual biographical background to understand motives and the moral frame(work) for problematizing (un)sustainable behavior. In particular, we focus on problematization as core process of storytelling and complement existing approaches coming from actor-network theory and Foucault’s discourse analysis with Entman’s concept of framing. In this paper, this innovative form of a narrative inquiry is put up for discussion for environmental communication research in order to create a better understanding of individual perceptions of sustainability and sustainability related issues.

A new decade, the ‘roaring 20ies’, with a very visible and tangible climate crisis, is crying out for solutions on a global scale, currently exacerbated in a COVID-19-related economic, social and cultural crisis. Sustainability is the moral compass for individual, community as well as organizational and institutional action for a new, regenerative human-nature relationship. At the same time, the increase in communication about sustainability (public discourses), of sustainability (CSR, policies) and even for sustainability (NGOs, Fridays for Future) challenges media and communication studies dealing with the critical evaluation of the principle of growth as master frame in public discourses and the necessity to communicate inconvenient truths of de-growth and abandonment. This chapter introduces the main provocations and concepts for sustainability communication in the future and, in doing so, further establishes sustainability communication as emerging field with rather unspecific boundaries.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine inasmuch energy suppliers dedicate communicative resources toward sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR), also paying attention to how they frame it, and if they manage to achieve consistency in their communication or fall victim to contradictions. Design/methodology/approach By use of a qualitative content analysis, online communication tools (information on corporate websites) as well as content for download were examined in detail. The present study sample comprised of 12 case studies from selected countries (Austria, Russia, Germany, the USA, France and Korea). Findings Overall, findings indicate that CSR has already been implemented in most energy and energy-related industries; however, it is put forward with varying degrees of attention and intensity, depending on which topics energy companies choose to address communicatively (results were classified according to a frame positioning scheme by Weder, 2012, 2018). Results underscore the fact that, at times, companies are struggling to link their CSR projects back to their core businesses. Yet, a clear trend to politicization can be described as a strong correlation of communication strategies of energy suppliers and political programs of the respective country becomes obvious. Research limitations/implications Limited research as to how CSR topics are framed in different branches has been conducted to date; likewise, the energy sector, whose motives has been often subject to public questioning, has received little attention in CSR communication research to date. Hence, ambiguities were presumed to exist. Originality/value The present study examines the relevance and framing of CSR in a highly competitive, centralized industry that is challenged by a global process of transition to renewable energy. The results show that the analyzed energy suppliers offer only a limited variety of issue-specific frames; instead CSR as well as sustainability are (ab)used as master frames or “buzz words” in a fairly shallow economic or socio-political argumentation.

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