#TravelersForTheFuture : En kritisk diskursanalys av SAS miljömässiga hållbarhetskommunikation

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine how a company within the aircraft industry communicates environmental sustainability. We have therefore chosen to investigate the airline SAS - partly because it is an aircraft industry and partly because the airline is criticized today for its negative environmental impact. The purpose of this study has been answered based on two questions (1) How does SAS produces environmental sustainability through linguistic means and (2) How does SAS speaks to its audience through its sustainability communication? Furthermore we have based this study on theories about discourses, critical discourse analysis and sustainability communication. As well as we have used the theoretical perspective of critical discourse analysis, it has also been used as a method in this study. We have based our analysis on the three-dimensional model of Fairclough together with the linguistic and rhetorical tools modality, intertextuality/interdiscursivity, interpellations, ethos, pathos and logos. Our material consisted of social media posts from SAS’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram that significantly concerned environmental sustainability as well as the sustainability section of their website. The analysis resulted in three recurrent themes (1) Sustainability as a vision of the future (2) Sustainability together with SAS and (3) Sustainability as innovation. Therefore we have found that the focus is shifting from the environmental sustainability of the aviation industry as a dilemma, to being perceived as a long-term solution for us to being able to continue to fly. Thus, SAS is constantly indicating how the airline industry will continue to exist but sustainability aspects should be integrated into the business. We have also discovered how the audience is interpelled as ethical travelers - partly when SAS positions itself as a sustainable alternative for us to choose, and partly by offering us opportunities to act together with them for environmental sustainability.