Making Environmental Achievements Count for Consumers
by Janiece Greene, Guest Blogger
The age of the triple bottom line and responsible business is upon us. Financial, environmental, and social sustainability are hot topics within the media, business, and development communities. Everyone from oil and gas industry execs to the swashbuckling, rebel billionaire, Sir Richard Branson is talking about the importance of sustainable development. The recent emergence of social enterprises with their business drives development ethos has helped to further the discourse, making it difficult for corporations to take a business as usual approach when it comes to the triple bottom line. Multinational corporations are beginning to feel pressed on all sides to take action or lose out to the new kids on the block. Yet within the three pillars of sustainability, the financial and environmental elements have received the most play from big business. Both are generally easier to measure in terms of the traditional ROI metrics of cost and asset utilization, and involve less reputational risk [than their social counterpart]. The social element, which encompasses the ethical, moral, and philanthropic responsibilities of a business, has typically been housed within CSR and public relations departments of large companies rather than integrated into the core business. The end result is that social impact initiatives remain on the outskirts of the business, making it that much more difficult to integrate it as a core part of the sustainability strategy.
That said, integrating environmental standards into the supply chain management, operations, and corporate governance structure is a complex undertaking for any company regardless of its size or regulatory structure—ask any Chief Sustainability Officer. Additionally, the approach to environmental sustainability and definition of ROI can differ widely across business sectors making it difficult to create unified standards for measuring impact. However, many companies, particularly those in the retail, apparel, and energy sectors have managed to do the hard and complex work of understanding the monetary costs of their operations on the environment. Others have set themselves apart by achieving what some deem as the “holy grail” of sustainability: being “green” and turning a profit. Marks & Spencer, whose aim is to become the most sustainable global retailer by 2015, brought in $73M in profit in 2010 through its Plan A sustainability program, all of which was invested back into the company[1]. Environmental savings that generate profit is music to the ears of shareholders, senior management, and governing boards. Yet translating environmental achievements into something that is tangible for consumers has remained elusive for most companies.
There is a growing demand among consumers to be assured of the environmental sustainability of a company’s production processes, particularly for multinationals operating in the developing world. Unfortunately, much of the environmental reporting data, with statistics on indicators such as carbon emissions and waste, are too abstract for consumers to relate to in practical terms, and only tell part of the story.
Human beings are by nature emotional creatures, and emotions are remarkably important for influencing purchasing decisions. In fact, the phenomenon of emotion-driven purchases exists within almost every culture, country, and person. From mobile phones to handbags, consumers are willing to make a purchase if those items make them feel a certain something. Rallying consumers around environmental sustainability will require companies to humanize statistics. They must show consumers how environmental achievements have positively impacted people in the communities in which they operate. How has the use of natural inks and dyes revived the livelihoods of local craftspeople? How has the reduction of the use of harmful pollutants created greater access to clean drinking water for the community? Embedding social issues, such as poverty reduction, job creation, and workers’ health into environmental strategies will not only help companies address social sustainability concerns, but will also help them to bridge the emotional gap between environmental statistics and making a purchase. Dutch artist and social entrepreneur Siegfred Woldhek said it best, “most people want to contribute towards something meaningful, to fill the voids in their soul.”[2] Business needs to find a way to help consumers do just that.
[1] “Marks & Spencer’s Plan A Update Highlights Profits, Progress on Going Green”, GreenBiz.com, June 10, 2010
[2] Siegfred Woldhek, “Five Steps to Growing Your Social Impact: Lessons from the World Wildlife Fund”, Forbes.com, August 2012
About Janiece Greene
Janiece Greene is a Social Impact Strategist based in New York City. Her background is in management consulting, international development, and technology. The focus of Ms. Greene’s work is on creating revenue-generating activities for disadvantaged and marginalized populations, which are profitable and have a clear development benefit. She has examined issues of migration, race, ethnicity, and gender and its impact on the economic empowerment of the poor, conducting field research and product development engagements in Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Asia.
Ms. Greene is the author and coauthor of several industry publications and blogs on the economic empowerment of women, and is a frequent speaker at academic, business, and policy conferences centered on the issues of financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, microfinance, and social impact.