How to write a CEO statement for your sustainability report

The CEO statement is the most-read section of any annual or sustainability report. Most CEOs use it to talk about everything except what readers actually want to know: how seriously the company takes sustainability.

That's a problem. The CEO statement is the one place in the whole report where strategy, opinion and personal voice come together. When sustainability shows up there as an afterthought (or doesn't show up at all), the rest of the report reads as a regulatory exercise instead of a business one.

Here's how to write a CEO statement that takes sustainability seriously without sounding like every other CEO statement ever written. Five tips, with examples from companies doing it well.

Why the CEO statement matters more than most CEOs realise

The CEO statement is a formal requirement under GRI 2-22, which asks for a "statement on sustainable development strategy" from a senior decision-maker. The CSRD doesn't mandate a CEO statement specifically, but the ESRS 2 disclosures on governance, strategy and business model cover much of the same ground. Many companies end up delivering those disclosures through a CEO statement anyway, because that's where readers expect to find them. (We dug into how the ESRS revisions are reshaping disclosure here.)

The format matters less than people think. A written statement, an interview, a video transcript: all fine, as long as it sounds like the CEO actually said it. What matters is whether the statement says something.

Tip 1: Have something to say

Most CEO statements try to say everything. They end up saying nothing.

Pick two or three messages. Stick to them. The CEO statement isn't there to summarise the report. That's the report's job. It's there to tell readers what the CEO wants them to remember.

If sustainability matters to the business, make it one of those messages. Treat it as part of the strategy, not as a closing paragraph after the financials.

Ørsted's CEO statements work because they open with the energy transition challenge and how the company is positioning for it. Sustainability isn't tucked into a separate section. It's the whole story. That's what integration actually looks like.

Tip 2: Be simple and concise

The best CEO statements we've read run 600 to 700 words. Anything longer and you've lost the reader.

That means cutting jargon. Cutting hedging. Cutting the "we're committed to delivering value for all our stakeholders" formulations that appear in roughly half of all CEO statements ever written. A useful filter: if a sentence could appear unchanged in any other company's CEO statement, delete it.

Consider not using the word "sustainability" at all. Many sustainability initiatives are just good business sense. Talk about the investments you're making and the returns you expect. Use the language of investors: costs, risks, revenue, opportunity. If a programme has saved money or unlocked a new market, name the number.

Tip 3: Address what actually matters

Focus on the material issues. If you're a steelmaker, that's emissions, energy and worker safety. Not philanthropy.

And don't dodge the hard ones. Readers come to the CEO statement specifically to find out where the CEO stands on the issues that matter. If your industry has a problem with biodiversity loss, water use, human rights or supply chain emissions, say so. Acknowledge what's difficult. Explain what you're doing about it.

Take on the sceptics too. If you think the regulatory direction is wrong, say so. If you think your sector is being unfairly targeted, say so. (Our take on the ESRS undue cost or effort principle is an example of the kind of direct stance we mean.) People can disagree with you. They can't trust someone who refuses to say anything.

Tip 4: Be personal

The CEO statement should sound like the CEO. If it sounds like the comms team, the legal team, or a consultant, you've lost the only thing that makes a CEO statement worth more than a press release.

If your CEO has a phrase they always use, a story they tell at every all-hands, a metaphor they reach for in board meetings: that's the raw material. Use it.

Generic statements don't move people. Specific ones do.

1) Patagonia 2025 Impact Report - This one is a bit more thought provoking and leans towards activism.

2) Mercer International 2024 Sustainability Report - They name-drop specific regulations (CSRD, EUDR) and frame them as opportunities, which signals they understand the regulatory landscape.

3) Microsoft 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report - Rather than simply celebrating progress, they acknowledge the genuine challenges ahead which gived them real credibility.

Tip 5: Look forward

The rest of the report covers last year. The CEO statement is the place to look ahead.

What are the priorities for the next twelve months? Where is the company going? What does the CEO want the organisation to focus on?

This is where most statements turn vague. "We will continue to drive sustainable growth across all our businesses." That sentence means nothing. Better: "We're cutting emissions from our top three sourcing categories by 40% by 2028, and here's what we're doing this year to get there." Specific. Measurable. Readers know what to hold the company to.

A note on AI

Don't use AI to write your CEO statement.

It feels efficient. It defeats the entire point.

The CEO statement exists because readers want to know what the CEO thinks. Not what a comms team thinks. Not what a large language model thinks. The CEO.

We're not anti-AI in sustainability reporting. There are plenty of places in the report where AI saves time without losing anything: regulatory disclosures, data summaries, sections where accuracy matters more than voice. The CEO statement isn't one of those sections.

If a CEO statement could have been written by AI, readers will notice, and it loses the only thing that gives it weight. Use AI for editing if you want. Use it to pressure-test your structure or check your messages land. But the voice has to be the CEO's.

The short version

The CEO statement is the one place in the whole report where the CEO actually speaks. So make sure they have something to say, say it like they mean it, and don't waste the space on filler.

If you'd like help making your next CEO statement work harder, get in touch or see how we've done this with clients.