Ordering a corporate “green” discourse

sociopolitical uses of ecological modernization and the sustainability consensus

Abstract

The ecological and climate crisis has become one of the greatest contemporary challenges. But how does the business world react and adapt to the pressures generated by this crisis? This article analyzes the components that constitute a corporate “green” discourse order under processes of ecological modernization and the development of a sustainability consensus, aiming to legitimize business practices and neutralize criticism of their operations. Based on an analysis of the content of the lectures at the Global Compact Network Brazil's Business & Climate Ambition side event, held at COP-29 in Baku in November 2024, a review of corporate websites and academic literature, we examine how this discourse diverts attention from the structural causes of the crisis, dilutes inequalities, and presents “cosmetic” changes that preserve the prevailing conditions. Four central components that articulate the order of discourse are identified: articulations between agents in the constitution of spaces of consensus, dominant valuations in the face of environmental problems, forms of transformation of corporate governance in the face of the crisis, and mechanisms of capital circulation through financing. It is concluded that the order of corporate green discourse order serves as a sociopolitical strategy to create conditions conducive to business development in contexts of ecological and climate crisis.