Smart Sustainability #2 - Insights overview from Bain and McKinsey.
How to navigate the coming sustainability transformation.
This is the second edition of my newsletter highlighting and discussing the best sustainable ideas, innovations and solutions for helping companies measure, manage and achieve their climate and sustainability targets in the most cost effective way.
“Sustainability is the new digital”. Bain & Co.
“The sustainability revolution is arriving faster than many companies expected, and it is expanding to include a wider range of environmental and social issues. It also is shifting profit pools, challenging historically high returns in some areas while opening up billion-dollar opportunities in others. No industry is immune to these changes.”
This is an extract from the superb insights brief released by Bain & Co in Sept 2020. It’s an excellent overview of why the coming sustainability transformation will have an even more radical effect on companies than the digital one.
50% of the Global Fortune 500 disappeared during the last 15 years, mainly because they didn’t manage the transition to digital. I think an equal number will disappear in the next 20 years because they fail to move fast enough at being sustainable.
To quote from the Bain report:
“As was the case with digital, the pace and disruptiveness will be different for each industry. Yet the trend is irreversible, and it is reaching an inflection point”
Sustainable packaging accelerating due to Covid - McKinsey.
The Covid pandemic is reshaping consumer views about sustainable packaging materials in ways that will force the whole value chain to act quickly.
I love research notes that are full of proper data led insights, but also contain sensible suggestions on how companies can take action. That’s what this newsletter is about - bringing smart insights and recommendations to people who care about improving their company’s impact on our planet.
This brief from McKinsey that came out on Oct 21 2020 about the thoughts of US consumers to sustainable packaging after the pandemic is very interesting. Firstly, price and brand are still the most important factors when purchasing a product of course, and even more so in these times. However, forty-three percent of surveyed US consumers cited environmental impact as extremely or very important for packaging, which is an increase over previous years.
The data from their research across the world showed some surprising results:
In Japan, environmental factors are actually significantly less important than they are in the United States. However, they rank somewhat higher in Germany and Italy and significantly higher in Brazil, India, and Indonesia.
Overall, a fascinating study into consumer’s changing minds towards packaging and products.
Megatrend: The rise of Green Bonds.
The Visual Capitalist is one of my fave sites, backing up their thoughts and recommendations with data. This research note about the rise of Green (ESG) Bonds looks at green bond funding by sector, and the top purposes for these bonds.
Climate Insights 2020 - Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change.
The good news is that American opinions towards climate change are shifting again, probably spurred by the fires this year.
Despite the Trump administration’s opposition to doing anything to stop climate change, the US Government is out of touch with consumers on this issue. I find that in Asia, people think that the US is against climate change and US companies won’t do anything about it because of Trump. The opposite is actually happening, where most companies are looking further forward and anticipating that they need to speed up their sustainability strategies, especially on reducing their carbon footprint. When it comes to climate, don’t view US companies through the prism of the White House.