We Reduce, We Achieve, We Commit: A Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis

This study explores how sustainability reports construct persuasive corporate identities that promote environmentaland social responsibility. The analysis draws on a 455,000-token corpus of nine 2023 reports from companies listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), compiled and processed via Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff,et al. 2014; 2004). Methodologically, this research integrates Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis (Baker 2023; 2014;Egbert and Baker 2020), the Appraisal Framework (Martin and White 2005) and Critical Genre Analysis (Bhatia 2017; 2014; 2008) to uncover both quantitative patterns and qualitative discursive strategies. Findings reveal that sustainability reports give rise to a coherent and future-oriented narrative identity(McAdams and McLean 2013), in which the corporation emerges as an ethical, proactive and people-centred actor. First-person plural forms (i.e.,we, our and us) dominate the corpus, thereby pointing to categories such as agency, collective responsibilityand ownership. These frequently co-occur with material process verbs that project transformativeintent (Halliday and Matthiessen 2013) and with adjectives portraying the company as sustainable, inclusive and innovative (Stibbe 2015). The discursive interplay of these features builds an ethoticargument that positions the company as trustworthy and committed. Additionally, frequent references to ‘science-based’ goals serve to contract dialogic space and reinforce corporate credibility and ethical alignment, thus reducing interpretive openness (Fuoli 2018; Martin and White 2005). While such reports are framed as informative, this analysis suggests they increasingly adoptpersuasive strategies typical of promotional genres. In line with Critical Genre Analysis, they exemplify genre bending(Bhatia 2008), revealing how corporate sustainability discourse functions as a tool for identity negotiation and reputational management.