NAIROBI, Kenya, June 12 – Sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) discussions in Kenya are growing in frequency across corporate and media spaces, but industry leaders now warn that the concept remains poorly understood, limiting its real-world impact.
Speaking during the second Sustainability Town Hall of 2026 hosted by Capital FM, stakeholders noted that while organizations are increasingly adopting ESG language, there is still a significant knowledge gap among businesses, communities and even key communicators tasked with driving the agenda.
UN Young Champion of the Earth and HyaPak founder Joseph Nguthiru said one of the key weaknesses in current sustainability discourse is that young people are often excluded from shaping the conversation, despite being central to its outcomes.
“One of the missing things is solutions from youth. Most of the solutions that youth get are top-down.”
“We are told what to do and directed, instead of us coming up with solutions and ideas of what we want these companies to do for us.”
Nguthiru said this top-down approach has contributed to shallow engagement on sustainability, where ESG is often reduced to compliance language rather than a lived, problem-solving framework driven by innovation.
He added that greater inclusion of youth in corporate systems, particularly supply chains, would strengthen both understanding and impact of sustainability initiatives.
Capital FM Managing Director Symon Bargurei said the media industry also bears responsibility for deepening public understanding of sustainability, noting that awareness alone is no longer sufficient.
“We need to take the next step of making sure there are practical things happening on the ground so that we entrench the concept of sustainability.”
“It is still not well understood, and we have a role as media to continue building depth on what sustainability is about and why it matters.”
According to Bargurei, Capital FM has structured its 2026 sustainability programming around the ESG pillars, with the current focus on social sustainability aimed at strengthening understanding of how sustainability directly affects people.
He said sustainability must be viewed beyond corporate reporting frameworks and instead understood through everyday interactions between businesses and society.
“Social is about people. It is how you treat the people that engage with your brand.”
“This includes customers, suppliers, communities and employees.”
Participants at the forum said that despite increasing ESG adoption, many organizations still struggle to translate sustainability commitments into actionable strategies that are understood internally and externally.
The leaders contend that sustainability must move from being a branding conversation to an operational standard embedded across institutions.
