Sustainability is a growing concern – a quick Google search reveals more than 20,000 news articles citing the subject on a Global basis in the last month alone. On Twitter too, sustainability is a continually trending topic, producing a now almost endless stream of tweets and re-tweets on the subject.
For UK businesses, tapping into this public consciousness can hold potentially lucrative results. Recent research conducted by the Carbon Trust highlighted that 56% of people are more concerned about businesses’ actions to reduce their impact on climate change than they were five years ago.
This same report however also highlights an increasing scepticism on the part of consumers towards what is fast becoming known as ‘Green Washing’, in other words being seen to be ‘going green for greens sake’. Couple this with the perceived costs involved in transitioning towards more environmentally friendly ways of doing and running businesses and it is easy to see why the corporate world has so far been slow to adopt and develop more ‘sustainable’ practices.
So just what will it take for UK and Global businesses to take environmental sustainability seriously?
Put simply, sustainable products and services must first show their economic sustainability if they are to enjoy widespread adoption throughout the business world.
Economic sustainability has become more and more valuable to investors on a Global basis too, nowhere more so than in the US.
In a recent survey amongst PriceWaterhouseCooper’s staff, 72% of senior US private equity executives pinpointed environmental sustainability as a “top of mind priority” for maximising future profits. One big reason was cost savings: 88% of senior PwC executives believe sustainability will become a more important factor in business decisions and investments in the next two years.
We are therefore beginning to see a shift in the mind-set of business towards sustainability, but crucially, going forward, it will be the ability of planet-friendly products and services to demonstrate their worth from an economic point of view that ultimately paves the way for a more environmentally sustainable future for us all.
This Blog post was written by Kell Systems
