🔥 Warm-Up (5 minutes)
- In your view, what distinguishes a genuine corporate sustainability initiative from mere greenwashing?
- How might a company's approach to stakeholder engagement affect its long-term reputation, even if short-term profits suffer?
📖 Key Vocabulary
| English | Type | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| carbon footprint | n. | The company pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by 40 percent within five years. |
| ethical sourcing | n. | Ethical sourcing ensures that raw materials are procured without exploiting workers or degrading the environment. |
| stakeholder engagement | n. | Robust stakeholder engagement allowed the board to anticipate community objections before the plant was built. |
| environmental compliance | n. | Failure to maintain environmental compliance could result in substantial regulatory fines. |
| community investment | n. | The firm's community investment initiatives include funding for local vocational training programs. |
| corporate governance | n. | Analysts praised the conglomerate's transparent corporate governance structure. |
| mitigate | v. | The manufacturer installed new filtration systems to mitigate its impact on local waterways. |
| greenwashing | n. | Consumer advocates accused the airline of greenwashing after its 'carbon-neutral' claims proved unsubstantiated. |
| due diligence | n. | Investors are expected to conduct due diligence on a supplier's labor practices before signing a contract. |
| accountable | adj. | Executives must be held accountable for lapses in workplace safety, regardless of seniority. |
🧠 Grammar / Strategy Focus
The subjunctive mood appears in that-clauses following verbs of necessity or recommendation (recommend, request, insist, demand, require, suggest) and after impersonal adjectives expressing urgency (it is essential/imperative/vital that...). In this structure, the verb in the subordinate clause remains in its base form regardless of subject or tense — it does not take -s, -ed, or a modal auxiliary. For example: 'The board insists that the CFO submit the revised budget by Friday,' not 'submits' or 'will submit.' This form is common in formal business and legal writing, where it signals a binding obligation rather than a mere preference.
✏️ Part 5 Practice
Incomplete Sentences
📝 Part 6 Practice
Text Completion (Subject: Mandatory Sustainability Compliance Briefing)
MEMORANDUM
To: All Regional Directors From: Office of Corporate Sustainability
Following the release of our third-party audit, it is recommended that every regional office (1) its supply-chain due diligence procedures no later than the end of this fiscal quarter.
Not only (2) the auditors identify gaps in our environmental compliance documentation, but they also flagged inconsistencies in how community investment funds were disbursed across regions.
Directors are reminded that, (3) a supplier is found to be in violation of our ethical sourcing standards, the contract must be suspended pending further investigation.
We therefore request that each director (4) a revised action plan to this office by Friday, along with confirmation that all staff have completed the updated compliance training.
📰 Part 7 Practice
Reading Comprehension
HanoiCorp's newly released sustainability report reveals a mixed record on its five-year decarbonization pledge. While the conglomerate reports a 22 percent reduction in operational carbon emissions since 2021, independent analysts note that this figure excludes emissions generated by its extended supply chain — an omission that, critics argue, understates the company's true environmental footprint by a considerable margin. The report also highlights an expanded community investment portfolio, with disbursements to vocational training centers in three provinces having nearly doubled since the previous fiscal year.
Nevertheless, shareholder advocacy groups have expressed skepticism regarding the company's corporate governance reforms, insofar as the newly established sustainability oversight committee lacks independent board representation. It was this apparent conflict of interest, rather than the emissions figures themselves, that prompted three institutional investors to withhold their proxy votes at last month's annual general meeting. Company representatives maintain that the committee's composition will be reviewed provided that shareholder concerns persist beyond the next reporting cycle.
🎧 Listening Practice
Conversation (Part 3 style)
Teacher: read the script aloud twice (or record it) at natural speed, then ask students the questions below.
Man: Have you had a chance to look over the draft sustainability report before it goes to the board next week?
Woman: I skimmed it, but honestly, I'm a bit concerned the emissions data doesn't quite add up with what the auditors flagged last quarter.
Man: That's exactly what I thought. It's not that the numbers are wrong, per se — it's more that they've excluded the supply chain figures altogether.
Woman: Right, and if we submit it as is, we're basically asking for the same criticism we got last year over the greenwashing allegations.
Man: Would it be feasible to push the submission back a week so the sustainability team can revise the figures?
Woman: I doubt it — the board's expecting it Monday. Maybe we could flag the omission ourselves in a footnote instead, just to get ahead of it.
Man: That might be our best option at this point, provided legal signs off on the wording.