The language around sustainability is changing, as businesses have been removing sustainability language from websites, reports, and investor communications.

Examples abound. A Conference Board survey found that fewer companies are using the phrase “ESG” in their reports—40% of S&P 100 companies used the language in sustainability report titles in 2023, but that number dropped to 6% by late April 2025, by which time about half the companies had already reported. But while “ESG” is being deleted, it’s now being recast more generally as “sustainability” and “impact” to focus more on business value, according to the Conference Board. The We Mean Business Coalition showed that just reframing climate risk as business risk increases people’s positive perception.

According to the Financial Times, Walmart and Kraft Heinz each deleted or rewrote sustainability language from March 2024 to March 2025. Coca-Cola backed away from emissions reduction commitments last December, and tempered wording on its website to match. Meta deleted text about “leading the way on climate change” that was on its sustainability web page last summer. Also last summer, Ford removed sustainability language from a prominent position on its UK sustainability web page, though it kept mentions lower down.

Doing good still matters. According to a 2024 survey from the Potential Energy Coalition (PEC), more than 70% of US customers expected companies to go beyond serving shareholders, and said companies have a responsibility to limit their environmental impact. Investors felt similarly, favoring companies with pro-climate positions. In fact, 60% of US investors agreed that climate change is a material risk for companies that can affect their financial performance, according to the We Mean Business Coalition.

“Our data suggests that people have changed less than you think they have in the last year,” Will Howard, head of insights and advisory services at the Potential Energy Coalition, told CFO Brew.

Keep reading.—JK

The September cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is just the latest reminder of how severe and widespread damages from a cyber incident can get. (As if last year’s CrowdStrike outage wasn’t enough.) JLR CFO Richard Molyneux told reporters the incident was “like nothing else I’ve experienced.”

Disruptive and costly data breaches like JLR’s show that cybersecurity is an issue that goes beyond the IT department, according to Felicia Gallagher, a fractional CFO and the founder and CEO of ThreeStone Solutions. She told CFO Brew that “it’s really a financial resilience issue, because you have to protect the revenue, you have to protect the cash flow, and keep operations under pressure.”

Gallagher drew this conclusion from direct experience. She was working in finance at a national food and beverage distributor that sustained a ransomware attack in May 2018 that sidelined operations for a day and a half.

Keep reading.—AZ

When you think of Walmart, what comes to mind? While many might picture bright fluorescent lights, the infamous “yodeling kid” viral video, or the interesting fellow shopper one might have encountered on a late-night shopping run, far fewer will likely think about elaborate IT operations powering an extensive supply-chain network, paired with constant plans for tech innovation.

With close to $569 billion in US sales just last year, Walmart has a reputation for competitive pricing. It has also used that revenue to quietly build up a robust IT infrastructure to support its operations, propelling itself to the forefront of conversations about GenAI and innovative e-commerce technology.

Has Walmart graduated from a retailer to a sophisticated tech company comparable to the likes of its arch-rival, Amazon? IT Brew caught up with several retail tech experts to discuss the retailer’s tech strategy and if it’s outgrown its sole retailer identity.

Keep reading on IT Brew.—BM

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