The “greening” of the annual letters published by Exxon, Chevron and BP between 2003 and 2009

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to focus on the "green communication" of Exxon, Chevron and BP with a view to studying how they assert environmental values. Design/methodology/approach -From a linguist's perspective, the paper examines how the climate change controversy has influenced corporate discourse in the annual letters to the stockholders and to the stakeholders published between 2003 and 2009. A modular approach was used to analyse three main aspects of organisational green communication: the references to environmental issues, the CEOs' rhetorical strategies and their lexical choices. Findings -The analysis has evidenced a gradual shift in annual letters towards a "re-creation of meaning": while environmental values were deemed a potential threat for company performance, they have become fully-fledged valorisation tools. The annual letters are aimed to communicate a positive image of the companies, stressing a responsible and proactive behaviour regarding environmental issues.Research limitations/implications -As the analysis is based on a period of six years and restricted to three companies, the findings need to be checked against a broader sample of risk companies over a longer period of time. In order to assess the efficiency of corporate communication, researchers are encouraged to survey various stakeholder groups and analyse their reactions to the letters. Originality/value -This paper argues that though financial indicators still play an eminent role in corporate reporting, green communication should not be overlooked by corporate communication managers, as discourse analysis evidences the role of efficient language and rhetoric in bolstering corporate performance.

Disclosing Compliant and Responsible Corporations: CSR Performance in Malaysian CEO Statements

“…The portrayal of compliant and responsible Malaysian corporations substantiates previous research about CSR in CEO Statements of other countries (e.g. Bowers, 2010;Breeze, 2012;Domenec, 2012), where corporations are agents of positive social change. Therefore, context has exerted 'pressure' on meanings and wordings and corporate context is reflected by content in CEO Statements.…”

“…In Foz Gil and Vázquez (1995) and Hyland (1998), corporations are a positive entity in CEO Statements. From previous research, be it a macro analysis (Mustaffa & Rashidah, 2007;Thompson & Zarina, 2004) or a micro analysis (Bowers, 2010;Breeze, 2012;Domenec, 2012;Foz Gil & Vázquez, 1995;Fuoli, 2012;Hyland, 1998;Livesey & Kearins, 2012;Mason & Mason, 2012;Thomas, 1997), corporations are the source of positive events and this is mainly achieved by choosing relevant language features. Therefore, the choice of language features is purposeful and might reflect a corporation's context, as argued by Breeze (2012), Domenec (2012) and Thomas (1997).…”

“…Bowers (2010) explains another shift, where corporations redefine sustainability from an economic prospect to an economic value. Breeze (2012) and Domenec (2012) identify language features to legitimize oil corporations as proactive and concerned after environmental crises. Corporations are portrayed as enabling profit (Thomas, 1997) or sustainability (Bowers, 2010;Breeze, 2012;Domenec, 2012;Mason & Mason, 2012) and corporations become a key entity in CEO Statements.…”

“…Corporations are activated through selected grammatical elements, such as a proper noun ('Media Prima') in Extract 6, a pronoun ('we') in Extracts 5 and 7 and a determiner ('Our') in Extracts 1 and 2. Through Activation, corporations are the dynamic force in events (van Leeuwen, 2008) and become the source of initiatives (Bowers, 2010;Breeze, 2012;Domenec, 2012;Mason & Mason, 2012). Corporations cause initiatives and these initiatives cause changes because verbal groups, such as 'enrich' (Extract 2), 'inculcate' (Extract 3), 'preserve' (Extract 5), 'respect' (Extract 6) and 'develop' (Extract 7) imply new or better conditions.…”

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: An Ethics Case Study in Environmental Engineering

“…29 Nonetheless, oil producers (including but not limited to BP) have bolstered their public image regarding their commitment to sustainability through green communication. 30,31 As a review of BP's history shows, at least in regards to decisions made from the top BP executives, this has been mostly bark with no bite. 32 Lastly, we shift the focus to positive environmental impacts of deep-water drilling; the decommissioning of rigs in Gulf shores to form artificial reefs.…”