What is the role of communication and public relations in the current global turning point on sustainability? (marzo, 2026)
I address this question in my recently published article in Public Relations Review.
- The current global context for sustainability is marked by increased scrutiny of organizational claims and widespread accusations of greenwashing.
- However, there are also paradoxical reactions, such as ‘greenhushing,’ where organizations stay silent on sustainability, wasting not only brand value but also value for their stakeholders.
- Public relations can contribute to authentic sustainability by aligning statements with behaviors, symbols with actions, and profit with social benefit.
The field of public relations plays a key role in developing narratives that foster shared meanings and build support for coalitions addressing sustainability challenges.
What is true sustainability?( febrero, 2026)
In my article “The role of public relations to address a global turning point on sustainability” published in Public Relations Review I undertake an “authenticity lens” to deal with current global challenges on sustainability.
Key points:
- Analyzing the current global context for sustainability raises a key question: What sustainability and what for?
- Authenticity in public relations is not just a moral or philosophical concern, but a strategic and relational asset essential for advancing credible competitive sustainability agendas.
- Definitions of authenticity emphasize consistency and coherence between words and actions, promises and behaviors, visible and invisible elements, and internal values versus external perceptions.
- Authenticity has become a central research topic in communication, especially due to the increasing demand for organizations to provide real value for their stakeholders.
- Addressing current challenges in sustainability requires matching authentic sustainability with competitive sustainability, and hence, rethinking fully:
What sustainability and what for?
Full article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102665
Cuando el sí deja de ser sí, y el no deja de ser no ( enero, 2026)
Lo de hoy de la portavoz de gobierno de España, Elma Saiz, podría catalogarse en los libros bajo la categoría “amenazas a la comunicación”.
Entrevistador: Usted, que sabe de derecho, le pido solo un sí o un no. ¿Podía el gobierno haber aprobado la subida de pensiones separándola de esas otras medidas más controvertidas?
Portavoz: Esto va más allá de un sí o un no. Lo que el gobierno está haciendo es practicar un escudo social, frente al cual el PP reacciona con un ejercicio de cinismo: vota no y pide tranquilidad a los pensionistas.
Entrevistador: ¿Van a presentar los presupuestos?
Portavoz: Categóricamente sí.
Entrevistador: El problema es que eso lo han dicho ya muchas veces. ¿Por qué ahora lo íbamos a creer?
Portavoz: Porque este gobierno cumple.
Cuando se pierde el respeto al significado de palabras tan sencillas como SÍ y NO, ya no se sabe qué es cinismo, quién es el cínico, y qué se esconde tras sí. Peor, el cinismo acaba incrustándose en el ADN de la sociedad, y casi ni nos damos cuenta.
What is key for an organization to be perceived as authentic?
Perceived authenticity includes:
a) an awareness of not only the organizations’ but also their publics’ motives, feelings, and desires;
b) truthfulness (being true to oneself), what means presenting a genuine and not fake self;
c) transparency (willing to accept responsibility for and learn from mistakes and actions);
d) consistency (congruency with its values, beliefs and rhetoric);
e) an ongoing evaluation on the continuum of authenticity/inauthenticity.
Shen, H., & Kim, J. N. (2012). The authentic enterprise: Another buzz word, or a true driver of quality relationships? Journal of Public Relations Research, 24(4), 371-389.
Better tell or hide? What should organizations do to enjoy their stakeholders’ trust in sustainability messages?
Greenhushing is emerging as a pivotal concept in the sustainability narrative. It is the practice of deliberately staying silent or withholding information about own sustainability efforts to avoid public scrutiny, criticism, or being accused of greenwashing. Large companies such as Walmart and Kraft Heinz have begun to remove or rewrite references to climate change on their websites.
Like greenwashing, greenhushing distorts the truth: messages are not being loyal to organizations’ actual achievements.
Aren’t there risks in under-communicating sustainability achievements?
Yes, there are losses in brand value. In its 2025 Sustainability Perceptions Index, Brand Finance identified a “Value Gap” (the difference between a brand’s actual performance on sustainability metrics and how it is perceived by consumers) of over USD 100 million for 98 of the top 500 brands. This means that brands with a large positive gap value, such as Microsoft, Red Bull, Gap, and Wolt, have significant opportunity to unlock brand value by improving their sustainability communication.
More needs to be done to develop narratives and communication strategies that allow organizations to avoid both greenwashing and brand value losses. Authenticity is about supporting messages with facts and behaviors.
Escarbar en un escenario de posverdad para llegar a los hechos
“En la era de la política que apela no a la razón sino a las fobias” recomiendo el monólogo de Carlos Alsina del 2 de julio. Es para registrar en los libros de Comunicación Política: cómo escarbar en un escenario de posverdad para llegar a los hechos. Aquí el link al monólogo https://acortar.link/cgXkB2
Alsina reproduce el escenario construido por el Gobierno de Pedro Sánchez y el PSOE en su reacción al encarcelamiento de Santos Cerdán. Utiliza técnicas de posverdad para mostrar, magistralmente, lo peligroso de la posverdad: la apelación a la emoción (en este caso, un gran lamento del Gobierno) anestesia a la razón para no recabar en los hechos (no hay rendición de cuentas).
Al escucharlo, tengo que hacer un tic en todas las características de posverdad que identifiqué en mi estudio de comunicación política.
La posverdad:
- Apela a la emoción: el gobierno está desgarrado, dolido, pesaroso, devastado al ver entrar en la cárcel al que fue el número tres de su partido.
- Esconde en una buena historia (de conmoción y decepción) la debilidad del argumento (quien presuntamente cometió el delito ya no es de los nuestros; aunque cuando lo cometió sí).
- Se defiende recurriendo a la conspiración: actuamos con contundencia, no como otros. O también: estoy imputado porque he contribuido gobiernos progresistas.
- Hace noticia de rumores falsos: todo podría ser un montaje, a ver si se encuentra el dinero (Tezanos).
Lo peor es que este escenario se repite en España todos los días. Esperemos que no falte quien escarbe en los escenarios de posverdad.
When facts become secondary, what happens to trust? (Febrero, 2026)
Governments are expected to be reliable sources of information, yet we live in an era characterized by a ‘post-truth’ condition, where alternative facts and emotional narratives often carry more weight than objective reality.
Public sector communication is caught in a paradox: citizens demand transparency, but also distrust the messages they receivIn a time when perceptions matter more than facts, can public administrations regain legitimacy through communication alone, or does trust require something beyond messaging?
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