If you are sitting for the IELTS exam this year, you need to stop saying “global warming.”
We mean it. Examiners are tired of hearing it. Every single day, thousands of candidates walk into the exam room and write the exact same generic sentences:
- “Global warming is bad.”
- “Companies must stop pollution.”
- “We need to protect the earth.”
It’s not that these statements are factually wrong—it’s that they are incredibly basic. They lack academic rigor. If you are stuck at a Band 6 or 6.5 in the Lexical Resource category, this is exactly why. You are using emotional, generic language instead of precise, topic-specific terminology.
Today, we are going to completely upgrade your vocabulary. We aren’t just going to talk about the environment; we are going to talk about the politics behind it. Clock the tea: it’s time to secure your Band 8 or 9 with advanced corporate sustainability lexis.
The Trap: Band 6 vs. Band 9
Let’s look at our first major upgrade. In a Writing Task 2 essay, you might be tempted to write: “Companies are lying about helping the environment.”
Delete that. Instead, you need to use the term Corporate Greenwashing.
Greenwashing is the deceptive use of marketing to make a company seem more environmentally friendly than it actually is. It’s a sophisticated, highly specific Band 9 noun.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine a fast-fashion brand that produces millions of cheap, synthetic garments, but they launch one small line of organic cotton t-shirts and advertise it heavily. That is greenwashing.
And the action itself? We call that a Token Gesture or Tokenism. A token gesture is doing something incredibly small just to show that you are following the rules, but without making any genuine effort to fix the root problem.
- ❌ Band 6: Replacing plastic straws with paper ones doesn’t help much.
- ✅ Band 9: Replacing plastic straws with paper ones is often a mere token gesture that distracts from a corporation’s massive carbon footprint.
Notice how much more authoritative and academic that sounds?
🗣️ The Illusion of Action: Ecological Lip Service
How do we describe politicians or CEOs who give great speeches about the climate crisis, but never actually pass any laws or change their business models?
The basic Band 6 phrase is: “They are just talking and not doing anything.” The elite Band 9 phrase is: Ecological Lip Service.
To ‘pay lip service’ to something means to verbally support it without taking concrete action.
“Governments must move past paying ecological lip service and begin enforcing punitive measures against industrial polluters.”
And what happens when these industrial polluters are actually forced to act? They often turn to Carbon Offsetting. This is a brilliant phrase to deploy in Speaking Part 3 or Writing Task 2. Carbon offsetting is when a company compensates for its emissions by funding equivalent reductions elsewhere—like planting trees.
But here is where you show the examiner your high-level critical thinking skills: you can argue that carbon offsetting is just a modern indulgence, allowing wealthy multinationals to simply buy their way out of making authentic, structural changes.
The Examiner Mindset: Master Your Collocations
Let’s put this all together. To get that Band 9, you have to show the examiner that you understand how these complex global issues connect. You can’t just memorize a list of vocabulary words; they have to naturally collocate—which means they have to fit together perfectly in a sentence.
Instead of saying, “We need to make new rules for companies,” you must say, “We must implement stringent regulatory frameworks to ensure sustainable compliance.” Sustainable compliance means companies are actually adhering to environmental laws through rigorous third-party auditing, not just fabricating their own internal reports.
When you seamlessly combine terms like greenwashing, tokenism, ecological lip service, and sustainable compliance, you signal to the examiner that you have a near-native grasp of contemporary global politics. Your Lexical Resource score will immediately jump.
Download Your Free Band 9 IELTS Guide
Reading an article isn’t enough—you have to actively review these terms to lock them into your memory before exam day.
We have put together a completely free, premium resource for you. Upgrade your exam prep today by downloading the Band 9 Changemaker Vocabulary: The PARSNIP Guide.
Inside this free PDF, you will unlock:
- A full, premium Band 9 Writing Task 2 model essay.
- Speaking Part 3 sample answers using this exact vocabulary.
- A complete glossary breakdown so you can see exactly how these words flow in a full test environment.
Don’t let basic vocabulary keep you from your dream score. Download the guide right now, and make sure you are following @concordblack across social media for daily IELTS masterclasses.
