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In:Framing in Interaction: Pragmatic approaches to framing analysis
Edited by Simon Borchmann, Anne H. Fabricius and Ida Klitgård
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 354] 2025
► pp. 76–98

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Chapter 3
Sustainability reporting in the fossil fuel sector

A linguistic balancing act to reconcile self- and other-framings

 | NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Published online: 30 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.354.03dah
Abstract
Social actors are not necessarily entirely free to create their own self-representation. This chapter discusses how companies involved in contested activities such as fossil fuel production interact with opposing framings when communicating their sustainability efforts. Through a linguistic and pragmatic analysis of climate change-related disclosure by energy companies BP and Equinor, I show that their self-representation also reflects and responds to views held by voices critical to their activities. The devices identified as contributing to framing in the analysed material exceed key words and phrases, and include evaluative elements, presupposition triggers and linguistic polyphony markers. Concerning the nature of the interaction between self- and other-framing, Equinor to a greater extent than BP enters into a dialogue with critical stakeholders.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sustainability reporting as an impression management activity
  • 3.Self- and other-framing
  • 4.Literature review
  • 5.The current study
    • 5.1Material
    • 5.2Method
  • 6.Findings
    • 6.1Traces of self-framing
    • 6.2Traces of response to other-framing
      • 6.2.1BP
      • 6.2.2Equinor
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Concluding remarks and suggestions for further studies
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
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