14 (More) Top Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement Newsletters
Your inbox is valuable real estate. We hand-picked over a dozen of our favorite bulletins to help you cut through the sustainababble.
It’s hard to beat a crisp newsletter.
The best of them deliver consistent, timely, efficient, relevant news that you can use on your quest for sustainability leadership––emerging advocacy flash points, shifting philanthropic priorities, eyebrow-raising corporate commitments, and case studies from the front lines of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) stakeholder engagement.
A few years ago, I wrote about some of our team’s favorite sustainability newsletters, and the article continues to be one of our most popular pages. So for all you nerds out there hungry for even more quality content, we decided to fire up the polls again and catalogue the catalogues currently making it to the top of our inboxes. No sponsorships, no kickbacks, just our genuine, free advice.
In no particular order, here are the Future 500 team’s current favorite newsletters from the world of sustainability, ESG, and stakeholder engagement.
1) 5 Ally Actions – by Karen Catlin’s Better Allies
Best for: DEI upskilling
What it is: Investors, employees, and advocates are increasingly calling on companies to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. Karen Catlin’s 5 Ally Actions newsletter is a must-read for those of us who benefit from one or more forms of privilege. It’s a weekly compilation of five simple “everyday actions” that demystify the complex but critical role of allyship. Price: Free.
2) The Brief – by ImpactAlpha
Best for: ESG investing
What it is: ImpactAlpha publishes this daily newsletter focused on social and environmental impact investing. This isn’t a curated list of links, it’s original business reporting and feature writing on trends, people, and deals––and priced accordingly. Subscribers can access a members-only Slack channel. Price: $39/month.
3) Business Brief – by Innovation Forum
Best for: Sustainable business studies and snippets
What it is: Every Friday, UK events producer Innovation Forum offers subscribers a nugget of original and interesting sustainable business research––along with its usual round-up of events, podcasts, news, and analysis on forests and agriculture, innovation, human rights, supply chain strategy, plastic pollution, and more. Price: Free.
4) Chain Reaction Research
Best for: Sustainable supply chain deep dives
What it is: Chain Reaction focuses on the intersection of finance and land use, and is required reading for corporate leaders with an interest in the commodities most often associated with deforestation, namely palm oil, soy, cattle, coffee, cacao, timber, and pulp and paper. It’s admittedly a bit in the weeds, but useful for those who deal with environmentally intensive commodities. Price: Free.
5) GlobeScan Espresso
Best for: The ABCs of the SDGs and ESG
What it is: GlobeScan’s newsletter consistently delivers survey- and data-driven insights applicable to executives across sectors. The sustainability research organization regularly collaborates with fellow consultancies like BSR and SustainAbility to develop reports on emerging ESG trends, insights into the priorities of sustainable business leaders, and guidance on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into corporate planning. Price: Free.
6) Circular Weekly – by GreenBiz
Best for: Squaring the circular economy
What it is: Much like climate change, a diverse array of sustainability challenges can now be viewed through a circular economy lens. GreenBiz’s Lauren Phipps’ offers a thoughtful, comprehensive take on how companies, NGOs, and researchers are working to develop more inclusive, impactful, and economically viable circular business models. Price: Free.
7) Inside Philanthropy
Best for: Following the advocacy money
What it is: Corporate leaders need to know who’s funding what, and why, as philanthropists provide advocacy organizations with resources to launch and run campaigns. Though aimed at the donor and funder community, IP’s weekly newsletter offers companies insight into issues that are garnering support and gaining traction backstage, long before anyone pulls out a bullhorn. Price: $47/month or $397/year.
8) QB Consulting
Best for: Purpose-driven leadership
What it is: A personable, thought-provoking monthly newsletter designed for purpose-driven leaders, penned by QB Consulting cofounders Noemí Jiménez and Sam Hartsock—both with impressive social-impact resumes. This dispatch offers inspiration, guidance, resources, and access to events on topics ranging from materiality, to ESG reporting, to diversity and inclusion. Price: Free.
9) Sourcing Journal
Best for: Textile-supply-chain sustainability
What it is: This daily roundup delves into the global footwear and apparel industries, and the supply chains that feed them cotton, synthetics, leather, and other materials. Expect the scoop on, for example, labour practices, logistics challenges, impact assessments, and technology innovations. The entry-level subscription is free, and includes a daily email newsletter and two optional others for rag-trade subsectors. Price: Free.
10-14) The Advocacy Assortment
Finally, we’re on the mailing lists of a wide range of advocacy and activist organizations, such as As You Sow, Mighty Earth, Story of Stuff, and Color of Change. Their newsletters will help you more effectively anticipate emerging stakeholder challenges, and ensure your language and initiatives resonate with those who are helping shape the public narrative on your material issues.
Still mystified by the inner workings of these NGOs? We’ve got you covered. Future 500’s Ask an Advocate Anything series sheds light on the tactics, motivations, and priorities of campaigning heavy-hitters like Greenpeace, Stand.Earth, and Earthworks, to name a few. Land these––and other insights on sustainability, advocacy, and philanthropy––in your inbox via our monthly Stakeholder Update. Price: Free. [Subscribe]
Now that you’re sufficiently subscribed, we’ll close with an important reminder: While newsletters have their place, nothing beats face-to-face dialogue when it comes to moving the needle on sustainability (even if virtual for the time being). Need help making connections across the company-to-campaigner spectrum? Members of our Corporate Affinity Network (CAN) regularly engage with leading advocates and activists, such as those mentioned above––and their funders––in our private webinar series and regular working groups. Learn how to get involved in CAN here.
Which newsletters help keep you up to speed? Let us know.
Future 500 is a non-profit consultancy that builds trust between companies, advocates, investors, and philanthropists to advance business as a force for good. Based in San Francisco, we specialize in stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and responsible communication. From stakeholder mapping to materiality assessments, partnership development to activist engagement, target setting to CSR reporting strategy, we empower our partners with the skills and relationships needed to systemically tackle today's most pressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
Want to learn more? Reach out any time.
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