Sustainable actions in the footwear industry are growing in importance and sustainability communication has an important role for a changed shoe industry. The sustainability communication must be clear, credible and comparable as well as accessible in order to be communicated successfully.

Today a great focus is placed on consumer’s choices and how those affect climate change and global warming. At the same time, messages about the climate crisis and mass extinction are circulating in the public. A lot of the responsibility for making better and more educated choices in order to reverse climate change is being placed on the individual and their actions. This can trigger a sense of helplessness or even increase psychological resistance. In climate- and sustainability communication there is often the assumption that people lack knowledge and are therefore unable to change their attitudes or behaviours. Many people arethough aware of climate change and the ways it affects our lives and future. There is however a gap between our green intentions and our current actions– the so-called, green gap. Climate- and sustainability communication are limited in how much they can achieve on their own. Political action and engagement is therefore a crucial part of communicating climate change and influencing the public’s knowledge, attitude and perception.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur svenska aktörer inom besöksnäringen arbetar med hållbarhet och på vilket sätt de kommunicerar ut detta genom digitala kanaler. Forskningsfrågor:Hur arbetar svenska aktörer inom besöksnäringen med hållbarhet?Hur väljer svenska aktörer inom besöksnäringen att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete? Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med abduktiv ansats. De kvalitativa metoder som har genomförts består av semistrukturerade intervjuer med tio respondenter från nio företag, och observationer av respektive företags digitala plattformar. Vidare har det insamlade materialet tematiskt analyserats. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat påvisar att det finns en medvetenhet kring vikten av hållbarhetskommunikation bland samtliga respondenter. Alla tillfrågade företag väljer att arbeta med hållbarhet på olika sätt, men de flesta respondenter kopplade hållbarhet i första hand till det miljömässiga perspektivet. De sociala och ekonomiska perspektiven upplystes däremot även mer eller mindre av flera av respondenterna. Vidare väljer de tillfråga företagen att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete utåt till skillnad från att enbart kommunicera internt, som tidigare var normen. Dock uppfattas det som en utmaning för företagen att använda digitala kanaler för att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete och skapa en tydlig ansvarsuppfattning hos konsumenterna. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish actors in the hospitality industry work with sustainability and in what way they communicate this through digital channels. Research question:How do Swedish actors in the hospitality industry work with sustainability?How do Swedish actors in the hospitality industry choose to communicate their sustainability work? Methodology: The study is based on a qualitative research method with abductive approach. The qualitative methods that have been conducted consist of semi -structured interviews with ten respondents from nine companies, and observations of the respective companies' digital platforms. Furthermore, the collected material has been thematically analyzed. Analysis & Conclusion: The study's findings reveal that all respondents recognize the importance of sustainability communication. All of the companies questioned chose to work with sustainability in different ways, although the majority of respondents associated sustainability primarily with the environmental perspective. Several respondents, on the other hand, provided information on the social and economic perspectives of sustainability. Furthermore, the companies questioned choose to communicate their sustainability work outward as opposed to communicating internally, which was previously the norm. However, it is perceived as a challenge for companies to use digital channels to communicate their sustainability work and establish a clear view of responsibility for consumers.

Esta investigação tem como objetivo buscar uma educação ambiental crítica, dialógica e democrática, que potencialize a mudança de hábitos e comportamentos, melhorando a qualidade de vida em nosso planeta. A educação ambiental surge comprometida com a proteção da vida na Terra, reconhecendo o papel central da educação na formação de valor e para a ação social. Partiremos de uma concepção complexa e sistêmica da sustentabilidade, chegando a ideia de sustentabilidade humanista. Na USP, a Superintendência de Gestão Ambiental (SGA) lançou em 2013 o Programa de Incentivo à Sustentabilidade da USP, com o intuito de apoiar projetos que tivessem como objetivo a promoção da educação visando à sustentabilidade para construir de forma participativa uma Universidade sustentável, como modelo para a sociedade brasileira. Um dos projetos aprovados, \"A ECA e a EACH em união para a sustentabilidade na USP\", criou a disciplina \"Educomunicação Socioambiental\" no Curso de Educomunicação (ECA/USP), colocando em prática a reflexão sobre os fundamentos e as implicações da Educação Ambiental e produzindo um ecossistema comunicativo capaz de dialogar com as práticas ambientais. Concluiu-se que a Educomunicação Socioambiental tem um grande potencial para desenvolver uma EA eficiente, capaz de transformar hábitos e comportamentos. Ao introduzir o diálogo, empoderando a comunidade e desenvolvendo o protagonismo nos processos de reflexão e produção, ela facilita o intercâmbio de experiências, garantindo uma comunicação participativa e cidadã, capaz de contribuir para a preservação dos recursos naturais. / This research aims to seek a critical environmental education, dialogue and democratic, that leverages the changing habits and behaviors, improving the quality of life on our planet. Environmental education appears committed to the protection of life on Earth, recognizing the central role of education in shaping values and social action. Depart from a complex and systemic concept of sustainability, reaching the idea of humanistic sustainability. We will start from a complex and systemic concept of sustainability, reaching the idea of humanistic sustainability. At USP, the Board of Environmental Management (BEM) launched in 2013 the Incentive Program to Sustainability at USP, in order to support projects that have as an objective the promotion of education aiming at sustainability to build in a participatory manner a sustainable University, as model for the Brazilian society. One of the approved projects, \"ECA and the EACH in union for sustainability at USP,\" created the discipline \"Environmental Educommunication\" in Educational Communication Course (ECA / USP), putting into practice the reflection on the foundations and implications of Education Environmental and producing a communications ecosystem capable of dealing with environmental practices. It was concluded that the Environmental Educommunication has great potential to develop an efficient EA, able to transform habits and behaviors. By introducing the dialogue, empowering the community and developing the role of the reflection and production processes, it facilitates the exchange of experience, ensuring a participatory and citizen communication, able to contribute to the preservation of natural resources of the planet.

Medvetenheten kring hållbarhet har ökat och blivit allt viktigare både för kunder men också för samhället i stort. Därför har också vikten för företag att kommunicera sitt hållbarhetsarbete ökat. För att möta kundernas behov bör man därför som företag veta vilka attityder till, och vilken typ av hållbarhetsarbete som kunderna vill ha och förväntar sig. Detta är inte minst viktigt för modeföretag då branschen kännetecknas av ökad konsumtion och snabbare trender men samtidigt står inför globala och miljömässiga utmaningar. Syftet med studien är att erhålla ökad kunskap om modekunders attityder till hållbarhet i textilbranschen generellt och kunder till företaget Monki specifikt, samt att undersöka hur dessa kunder vill ta till sig hållbarhetskommunikation. Utifrån syftet och Monkis intresse ämnar studien att besvara frågan om vilka attityder Monkis kunder har till hållbarhet och om deras attityder skiljer sig gentemot andra modekunders attityder. Studien avser också att besvara hur kunderna vill ta till sig hållbarhetskommunikation och om det finns attitydskillnader till hållbarhet inom Monkis kundgrupp. Empirin som verkar som underlag till analysen vilken i sin tur ämnar uppnå syftet, är insamlad med hjälp av enkäter vilka totalt 100 respondenter besvarat. Den insamlade empirin har analyserats med utgångspunkt ifrån den teoretiska referensramen som behandlar områdena; attityder, modekonsumenter samt grön marknadsföring. Resultatet från enkätstudien visar att samtliga respondenter är relativt enstämmiga i dess attityder till hållbarhet, dock är Monkis kunder något mer skeptiska till textilföretagens hållbarhetsarbete och har i något större grad än övriga kunder en önskan om att textilföretag skall arbeta mer för hållbarhet än de gör idag. Resultatet visade också att kunskaperna i ämnet är spridda hos respondenterna generellt och gällande hållbarhetskommunikation var respondenterna mest intresserade av att få information av den karaktären kommunicerat via bilder och visuella intryck från företagens butiker. Studiens slutsatser är att det finns en viss skillnad mellan Monkikundernas attityder till hållbarhet och övriga kunders. Det gick också att urskilja olika kundtyper inom Monkis kundgrupp som hade olika attityder. Utifrån studiens empiri, analys och slutsatser togs det fram rekommendationer till Monkis fortsatta hållbarhetsarbete, men också till modeföretag generellt gällande hållbarhetskommunikation. Dessa var att agera tydligt och förklarande via visuell hållbarhetskommunikation genom företagets butiker. The awareness of sustainability has grown and become increasingly important both for customers but also for the society at large. Because of this, the importance for companies to communicate their sustainability efforts has become essential. To meet the customers’ needs the companies have to determine which attitudes their customers have to sustainability and also which types of sustainability effort that is expected. This is particularly important for fashion companies since the textile industry are characterized by increased consumption and fast-fashion but at the same time facing global and environmental challenges. The purpose of this study is to obtain more knowledge about fashion consumers’ attitudes towards sustainability in the textile business in general and consumer to the fashion company Monki in specific and also to explore how these customers prefer to acquire sustainability communication. Based on the purpose and Monkis interest the study tends to answer questions such as which attitudes towards sustainability Monkis consumers have and how they differ from other fashion consumers’ attitudes and also how the consumer wishes to acquire sustainability communication. The study also intends to answer if there are differences in attitudes within Monkis customer group. The empiric that acts as a basis for the analysis, which in turn intends to achieve the purpose, was gathered using surveys, which a total of 100 respondents answered. The collected empirical data has been analysed on the basis of the theoretical framework, which covers the areas of: attitudes, fashion consumers and green marketing. The result of the survey show that all respondents are fairly united in their attitudes to sustainability, however the result also showed that Monkis customers where more sceptical of the fashion companies sustainability efforts today and had a greater desire that the companies would work more with sustainability. The result also showed that the knowledge of sustainability was scattered among the respondents, and if sustainability communication was used the respondents preferred to receive the information visual through images from the companies stores. The conclusion of the study was that there was a difference between Monkis customers’ attitudes and other customers’ attitudes to sustainability. It was also possible to distinguish that different customer types within Monkis customers group had different attitudes. Based on the study´s empirical data, analysis and conclusion there were made a few recommendations to Monkis future sustainability effort, but also to textile companies in general concerning sustainability communication. These were to communicate clearly and explanatory via visually concepts through their stores. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

Making a societal transition towards sustainability is a global concern of ever increasing urgency. Succeeding in this mission requires all societal sectors to be on board and contribute. This thesis focuses on the transformation of the corporate sector, namely how Internal Corporate Communication (ICC), i.e. communication between senior management and employees, can be designed to engage employees in working with sustainability. This thesis uses a conceptual model developed for ICC and employee engagement and applies it in the specific context of ICC with regards to sustainability in medium- to large-sized companies in Northern Europe. Through interviewing practitioners working with ICC on sustainability in ‘model’ sustainability companies, the research aims to discern best practices on how to design ICC about sustainability to engage employees. The results show that ICC can be a useful tool when it comes to engaging employees in working with sustainability, and the findings are summarized as guidelines for content creation and methods to use to facilitate engagement creation for sustainability. The discussion elaborates on how these guidelines can be used together with the Strategic Sustainable Development approach to facilitate companies’ journeys towards sustainability.

abstract: Without scientific expertise, society may make catastrophically poor choices when faced with problems such as climate change. However, scientists who engage society with normative questions face tension between advocacy and the social norms of science that call for objectivity and neutrality. Policy established in 2011 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) required their communication to be objective and neutral and this research comprised a qualitative analysis of IPCC reports to consider how much of their communication is strictly factual (Objective), and value-free (Neutral), and to consider how their communication had changed from 1990 to 2013. Further research comprised a qualitative analysis of structured interviews with scientists and non-scientists who were professionally engaged in climate science communication, to consider practitioner views on advocacy. The literature and the structured interviews revealed a conflicting range of definitions for advocacy versus objectivity and neutrality. The practitioners that were interviewed struggled to separate objective and neutral science from attempts to persuade, and the IPCC reports contained a substantial amount of communication that was not strictly factual and value-free. This research found that science communication often blurred the distinction between facts and values, imbuing the subjective with the authority and credibility of science, and thereby damaging the foundation for scientific credibility. This research proposes a strict definition for factual and value-free as a means to separate science from advocacy, to better protect the credibility of science, and better prepare scientists to negotiate contentious science-based policy issues. The normative dimension of sustainability will likely entangle scientists in advocacy or the appearance of it, and this research may be generalizable to sustainability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2015

Esta investigação tem como objetivo buscar uma educação ambiental crítica, dialógica e democrática, que potencialize a mudança de hábitos e comportamentos, melhorando a qualidade de vida em nosso planeta. A educação ambiental surge comprometida com a proteção da vida na Terra, reconhecendo o papel central da educação na formação de valor e para a ação social. Partiremos de uma concepção complexa e sistêmica da sustentabilidade, chegando a ideia de sustentabilidade humanista. Na USP, a Superintendência de Gestão Ambiental (SGA) lançou em 2013 o Programa de Incentivo à Sustentabilidade da USP, com o intuito de apoiar projetos que tivessem como objetivo a promoção da educação visando à sustentabilidade para construir de forma participativa uma Universidade sustentável, como modelo para a sociedade brasileira. Um dos projetos aprovados, \"A ECA e a EACH em união para a sustentabilidade na USP\", criou a disciplina \"Educomunicação Socioambiental\" no Curso de Educomunicação (ECA/USP), colocando em prática a reflexão sobre os fundamentos e as implicações da Educação Ambiental e produzindo um ecossistema comunicativo capaz de dialogar com as práticas ambientais. Concluiu-se que a Educomunicação Socioambiental tem um grande potencial para desenvolver uma EA eficiente, capaz de transformar hábitos e comportamentos. Ao introduzir o diálogo, empoderando a comunidade e desenvolvendo o protagonismo nos processos de reflexão e produção, ela facilita o intercâmbio de experiências, garantindo uma comunicação participativa e cidadã, capaz de contribuir para a preservação dos recursos naturais. / This research aims to seek a critical environmental education, dialogue and democratic, that leverages the changing habits and behaviors, improving the quality of life on our planet. Environmental education appears committed to the protection of life on Earth, recognizing the central role of education in shaping values and social action. Depart from a complex and systemic concept of sustainability, reaching the idea of humanistic sustainability. We will start from a complex and systemic concept of sustainability, reaching the idea of humanistic sustainability. At USP, the Board of Environmental Management (BEM) launched in 2013 the Incentive Program to Sustainability at USP, in order to support projects that have as an objective the promotion of education aiming at sustainability to build in a participatory manner a sustainable University, as model for the Brazilian society. One of the approved projects, \"ECA and the EACH in union for sustainability at USP,\" created the discipline \"Environmental Educommunication\" in Educational Communication Course (ECA / USP), putting into practice the reflection on the foundations and implications of Education Environmental and producing a communications ecosystem capable of dealing with environmental practices. It was concluded that the Environmental Educommunication has great potential to develop an efficient EA, able to transform habits and behaviors. By introducing the dialogue, empowering the community and developing the role of the reflection and production processes, it facilitates the exchange of experience, ensuring a participatory and citizen communication, able to contribute to the preservation of natural resources of the planet.

Background Sustainability is one of the hot topics in the apparel industry currently. Companies are working to improve an environmental impact of clothing production and social conditions at manufacturers and communicating to the public about these practices. At the same time, consumers are showing a growing interest towards sustainability in the apparel industry. However, there is little knowledge about how consumers perceive sustainability and how much they pay attention to the apparel companies’ sustainability practices. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine, with a holistic perspective, how consumers perceive sustainability in the apparel industry and how it affects their purchasing behaviour. Methodology A web-based self-completion questionnaire was conducted to examine consumers’ clothing purchasing behaviour and their perception of sustainability within the apparel industry. Convenience sampling method was used for the primary data collection. In total, 423 respondents from Sweden and Finland participated in this study. Findings The findings of this study show that the respondents are generally concerned about environmental issues in the apparel industry. However, their favourable attitudes seldom transfer into their purchasing intentions. Furthermore, the results show that the consumers of this study do not actively search sustainability information. Particularly they are not paying attention to the communication at the point of clothing purchase. Contribution This study gives insights into how consumers reflect upon sustainability when purchasing clothes and how actively they search for sustainability information. These insights are a valuable base for future improvements in order to achieve a meaningful manner in the apparel industry’s sustainability communication.

The raising awareness of sustainable strategies within businesses has resulted in corporations becoming more conscious of sustainable development. As concerns about the environment and global climate change increases with carbon emissions as a cause, companies are now considering the extent of their emissions, their so-called carbon footprint. Due to the fact that organizations are starting to recognize the need to engage in sustainability initiatives; it is integral to success to communicate that they are doing so. This research therefore attempts to provide a better understanding of how international corporations communicate their carbon footprint to key stakeholders. To reach this purpose, three research questions was stated. Based on these questions, a literature review was conducted, resulting in a conceptual framework which guided the data collection. Methodologically, a cross-case analysis has been conducted on three international corporations, LKAB, DIAB Group AB and BillerudKorsnäs. The case study included qualitative semi-structured interviews with sustainability- and communication managers and a content analysis of information available through the corporations’ communication channels.  The analysis showed that neither of the three corporations have a clear strategy for their carbon footprint communication. The corporations have implemented sustainability and carbon emissions well within the organization, but they only communicate this to a small extent externally. Through this, there is a difficulty in involving stakeholders in questions regarding the corporations’carbon footprint and allowing this dialogue to be included in the communication. The findings indicate that it is important to let sustainability be a part of the overall communication and to focus on what the company see value in. Finally, we have come to the conclusion that better strategies are needed in order for corporations to communicate their carbon footprint more effectively to stakeholders, as well as methods for how companies can report their carbon footprint to a greater extent.