Framing environmental issues. Force dynamics and cognitive semantics in pharmaceutical corporate reports

Abstract Sustainability is generally conceptualised as comprising three interrelated aspects, or “pillars”, namely environmental, social, and economic dimensions (Purvis, Ben, Yong Mao & Darren Robinson. 2019. Three pillars of sustainability: In search of conceptual origins. Sustainability Science 14. 681–695). This conceptual framework is mirrored in the tripartite structure of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reports used by pharmaceutical companies for annual disclosure. This paper focuses specifically on the first “pillar” – the “E” – the environmental aspect of ESG, with a view to exploring the “framing effects” employed in pharmaceutical discourse to construct an image of environmental awareness. The study draws on a corpus of ESG reports from eight pharmaceutical companies present on the stock exchange. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining quantitative analysis of lexical patterns with qualitative analysis of framing devices specific to the environmental section of the reports. This dual approach allows for a comprehensive examination of how language is used to frame environmental issues across different companies, while ensuring statistical robustness. Grounded in cognitive linguistics, and specifically in the analytic concept of frame and the theoretical notion of construal (Langacker 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Volume I, theoretical prerequisites . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. Constructing grammar: Cognitive and contextual . Oxford: Oxford University Press; Talmy 1988. Frames of reference and the semantics of space. In Vyvyan Evans & Melanie Green (eds.), The cognitive linguistics reader , 21–44. London: Equinox, 2000. Toward a cognitive semantics: Volume I: Concept structuring systems . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), this paper examines the mental representations stakeholders are prompted to construct in response to specific lexical and grammatical choices. By analysing both lexical frequency and force-dynamic patterns in the ESG corpus, this study elucidates the role of framing devices in shaping stakeholders’ cognitive and emotional responses to environmental concerns within pharmaceutical corporate communication.