Article updated 29 October 2026.
The G in ESG stands for governance. It covers how a business is directed, controlled and held accountable, including leadership oversight, business ethics, risk management and reporting.
For marketing and communications teams, governance can be harder to explain than an environmental project or a community programme. Much of the work happens through decisions, reviews, and processes behind the visible activity.
Start there. Who approved the commitment? Who is responsible for delivering it? What happens if performance falls short?
Those details give readers something they can assess. This guide explains how to communicate governance through practical information, supported by examples from Kyyte’s writing and messaging work.
What is ESG?
ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. These three areas help organisations and their stakeholders assess business impacts, risks and responsibilities.
- Environmental: How a business affects and depends on nature, including emissions, energy, water, waste and biodiversity.
- Social: How a business affects people, including working conditions, human rights, customer wellbeing and community relationships.
- Governance: How a business is directed and held accountable, including leadership oversight, ethics, controls and decision-making.
This article focuses on governance. Our other guides cover communicating environmental progress and communicating social impact.
What does the G in ESG cover?
Governance includes the structures and processes used to make decisions, monitor conduct, and respond when things go wrong.
Relevant subjects can include:
- Board composition, expertise and independence.
- Leadership responsibilities and decision-making authority.
- Business ethics, conflicts of interest and anti-corruption measures.
- Risk management, internal controls and audit.
- Executive remuneration and incentives.
- Shareholder rights and access to information.
- Ways to raise concerns and report misconduct.
- Oversight of data privacy, cybersecurity and sustainability reporting.
Arrangements will differ by business size, ownership, and operating context. A small owner-managed company will have a different structure from a listed multinational.
The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance provide an international reference on topics including shareholder rights, disclosure, board responsibilities, and sustainability.
For a content brief, the practical question is what your readers need to understand about the organisation’s decisions and accountability.
Explain who is responsible and who provides governance oversight.
“Leadership is committed to sustainability” leaves several questions unanswered.
Which leader? What are they responsible for? Who reviews progress, and what information do they receive?
Where a business has a board and executive management, distinguish their roles. The board generally provides strategic direction and oversight; management runs the business and implements decisions. Avoid wording that suggests directors personally manage every programme.
A useful governance explanation identifies:
- Who approves the policy, target or major decision.
- Who manages implementation.
- Who reviews progress and at what intervals.
- Which issues require escalation or further approval.
Use the organisation’s actual structure and terminology. Do not introduce a sustainability committee into the copy because it sounds more substantial if the responsibility sits with an existing management team.
A simple diagram or short paragraph can often explain the reporting lines more clearly than a page of leadership statements.
Show what a policy changes in practice.
Publishing a code of conduct establishes expectations. Readers may also need to know how those expectations affect everyday work.
Take conflicts of interest. A policy explainer could cover when someone should make a declaration, who reviews it and how the resulting decision is recorded. An employee should be able to work out what to do.
For anti-corruption content, “zero tolerance” needs supporting detail. Depending on the organisation’s arrangements, that might include approvals for gifts and hospitality, checks on intermediaries, training, and routes for raising concerns.
The UN Global Compact’s anti-corruption guidance calls for policies and programmes addressing corruption, including bribery and extortion. A published statement is only part of that work.
Before drafting, ask the policy owner for the current document and the process behind it. Check that the public explanation matches what people are actually expected to do.
DTC World: explain the response to supplier concerns.
In the SME spotlight story we wrote for UN Global Compact Network Singapore, DTC World described a phased approach to supplier assessments. It also explained how certain non-compliances prompted discussions about causes, a probationary period and evidence of corrective measures.
That gives a writer more to work with than a statement about supplier standards alone. It shows how the business described responding when expectations were not met.
When developing similar content, establish who reviews a finding, who decides the response and how follow-up is checked. Keep the wording within the evidence available.
Read the story in GCNS’s The Business of Better collection (PDF), which includes Kyyte’s work on DTC World, iWOW, OVOL Singapore and SEATOBAG®.
Connect environmental and social commitments to decisions.
Governance gives environmental and social work an approval process, resources, and a review route.
A business announcing an emissions target could explain which operations it covers, who owns the delivery plan, and how it reviews progress. If funding is needed, the content should reflect whether it has been approved or is still being sought.
For a workplace initiative, readers may need to understand who monitors results and what happens when employees identify a problem.
These details help distinguish stages that are often blurred in promotional copy:
| Status | What the content should make clear |
|---|---|
| Proposed | The option is being considered and has not been approved yet. |
| Approved | A decision has been made, with its scope and conditions explained. |
| Being implemented | Work is underway, with completed and outstanding steps identified. |
| Reviewed | Performance has been assessed, and any resulting decisions explained. |
Check the verbs. “Considering”, “approved”, “introduced” and “reviewed” describe different stages. Choosing the wrong one can make the business appear further ahead than it is.
Make reporting responsibilities visible.
A sustainability figure may pass through several teams before it reaches a website or report. Find out who supplied it, who checked it and who approved its use.
GRI 2: General Disclosures includes disclosures on governance responsibilities and the review and approval of sustainability information. These are useful questions for a communications brief, whether or not the article itself is part of a formal report.
Keep a record of the source, reporting period, calculation method and approval behind significant claims. That makes it easier to answer questions and correct content later.
Be equally precise about external assurance. If selected indicators have been independently assured, identify the coverage. Do not describe the whole report as assured unless that is what the assurance statement supports.
Our guide to turning ESG data into clear content explains how to preserve this context when adapting information for different audiences.
Explain how people can raise concerns.
A whistleblowing policy or grievance process needs to be understandable to the people expected to use it.
Depending on the process, readers may need to know:
- Who can raise a concern.
- Which issues the channel covers.
- How to submit a report.
- Who receives it.
- What happens next and how follow-up works.
- What protections and confidentiality arrangements apply.
Check every assurance with the person responsible for the process. Anonymous reporting and confidential handling are different arrangements. Avoid promising either unless the channel supports it.
The copy also needs a practical check. Does the link work? Is the contact information current? Can contractors or suppliers access the page if the process is intended for them?
Do not assume fewer reports mean better conduct. Reporting numbers need context about access, awareness and confidence in the process.
Give organisational values a practical meaning.
Words such as “integrity” and “accountability” are common in governance content. On their own, they leave the reader to guess what the organisation expects.
Explain what a value means in the business’s work. What behaviour supports it? What decision might it influence? What would conflict with it?
e-Stewards: turn values into usable guidance.
For e-Stewards, the electronics recycling and reuse certification programme, Kyyte developed written explanations of its values, tone of voice and key messages.
The original guide named values such as integrity and accountability but offered limited explanation. Our work connected the language to the organisation’s activities and relationships, giving its team clearer guidance for communications.
This is a messaging example. Written values can help people explain an organisation’s expectations; evidence of governance performance comes from how those expectations are applied.
Read our e-Stewards brand guidelines and messaging case study.
Explain changes, setbacks and corrections.
Governance content becomes more useful when it explains how the organisation responds to new information.
A missed target, revised policy or corrected figure may need a clear update. Establish what changed, why it changed, who approved the response and what happens next.
If a target is revised, make the relationship between the old and new commitments clear. If published data was wrong, identify the correction and check where else that figure has been used.
Some information will be confidential or subject to an ongoing review. Work with the relevant teams to determine what you can share. Avoid filling gaps with reassuring claims that have not been confirmed.
A leadership interview can help here. Ask about an actual decision, the options considered, and the evidence used. General statements about commitment rarely reveal much.
Choose governance content around the reader’s task.
Governance information serves different purposes. An employee seeking guidance has different questions than a customer assessing a supplier.
Useful formats include:
- Policy explainers: Help employees understand responsibilities, approvals and reporting routes.
- Supplier guidance: Explain requirements, assessment processes and what happens when issues arise.
- Leadership interviews: Explore a decision, its reasoning and the responsibilities involved.
- Website governance pages: Bring together current policies, structures and relevant disclosures.
- Progress updates: Explain changes to controls, reporting processes or oversight arrangements.
Keep summaries connected to the authoritative information. A blog post should link to the current policy or report where readers need the full detail.
For internal material, our employee engagement and internal communication services help organisations turn approved information into usable guidance.
When several teams contribute, our guide to planning sustainability marketing and ESG communications clarifies who produces and reviews the content.
Keep governance content current.
Assign responsibility for reviewing the content after publication.
Leadership changes, reporting lines, policy updates, or contact details can make a previously accurate page misleading. Review dates help, but significant changes may need an earlier update.
Measure whether the communication serves its purpose. Can employees find the reporting channel? Do suppliers understand the requirements? Are customers repeatedly asking for information that should already be clear?
Page views can indicate interest. They don’t prove the organisation is well governed.
At Kyyte, we look for a clear connection between a commitment, the person responsible and the process behind it. If the draft cannot explain that connection, we need more information before we can make a stronger claim.
Governance and ESG communications FAQs:
Examples of Governance in ESG include board oversight, conflicts-of-interest procedures, anti-corruption controls, executive remuneration, shareholder rights, internal audit and responsibility for sustainability reporting. Clear communications explain how these arrangements work, who is accountable, and how the company addresses problems.
Governance concerns how an organisation is directed, overseen and held accountable. Compliance concerns meeting applicable laws, regulations and other requirements. Compliance forms part of governance, which also covers strategy, decision-making, oversight and incentives. The two are closely connected, but they are not interchangeable.
Relevant measures may include board independence, attendance, training completion, overdue corrective actions, or how the board handles reported concerns. Choose measures that reflect the issue being assessed and explain their limitations. Completing training does not establish ethical conduct, and a low number of complaints does not necessarily show that a reporting process works well.
Yes. Small businesses also make decisions about governance topics including payments, conflicts of interest, suppliers, data and staff responsibilities. Their arrangements can be proportionate to their size and risks. Clear approval responsibilities, documented expectations and a practical route for raising concerns can provide useful information without requiring a complex committee structure.
Approval should reflect the subject and the organisation’s responsibilities. Data owners should check figures, relevant specialists should review technical claims, and the accountable decision-maker should approve the information within their authority. Sensitive content may also need legal or compliance review. Marketing should establish the approval route before publication.
Need help explaining your governance practices?
Kyyte helps organisations turn approved policies, leadership input and reporting information into clear website copy, articles and stakeholder communications.
For a defined writing brief, explore our ESG and sustainability copywriting services.
For support with messaging, planning and content delivery, explore our sustainability and ESG communications and marketing services.
