The “greening” of the annual letters published by Exxon, Chevron and BP between 2003 and 2009

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the “green communication” of Exxon, Chevron and BP with a view to studying how they assert environmental values. Design/methodology/approach – From a linguist's perspective, the paper examines how the climate change controversy has influenced corporate discourse in the annual letters to the stockholders and to the stakeholders published between 2003 and 2009. A modular approach was used to analyse three main aspects of organisational green communication: the references to environmental issues, the CEOs’ rhetorical strategies and their lexical choices. Findings – The analysis has evidenced a gradual shift in annual letters towards a “re‐creation of meaning”: while environmental values were deemed a potential threat for company performance, they have become fully‐fledged valorisation tools. The annual letters are aimed to communicate a positive image of the companies, stressing a responsible and proactive behaviour regarding environmental issues. Research limitations/implications – As the analysis is based on a period of six years and restricted to three companies, the findings need to be checked against a broader sample of risk companies over a longer period of time. In order to assess the efficiency of corporate communication, researchers are encouraged to survey various stakeholder groups and analyse their reactions to the letters. Originality/value – This paper argues that though financial indicators still play an eminent role in corporate reporting, green communication should not be overlooked by corporate communication managers, as discourse analysis evidences the role of efficient language and rhetoric in bolstering corporate performance.