A Wake-Up Call for Brands
If you haven’t heard of Greta Thunberg, where have you been? In August last year, the Swedish schoolgirl stood outside the Swedish Parliament, undertaking a solitary protest called Skolstrejk för klimatet (school strike for the climate).
She’s now the figurehead of the worldwide school strike for climate movement and a role model for student activism. Her protest comes amid a bleak vision of the future: last year, carbon emissions from fossil-fuel use hit a record high, with energy demand growing at its fastest pace in a decade.
It’s in the context of this desire for change and a growing consensus that everybody, from governments to brands to individuals, needs to act now that is driving save the environment movements in all corners of the world.
“Whatever your career, wherever you are, you can make a difference. To make the world a better place does not take great effort; it simply takes conscious, committed, and consistent effort to do good wherever we can, however we can, and whenever we can,” says Susan Heaney, Director of Marketing and Company Engagement at the Rainforest Alliance (USA), an international non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on climate change, deforestation, and animal and plant extinction, among other issues.
According to a 2018 survey by Nielsen, 81 percent of global respondents of all age groups feel strongly that companies should help improve the environment. While the passion for corporate responsibility is driven by millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X, the older generations are not far behind.
“Brands are key to making the world a better place because we live in a society in which brands and consumers are engaged in a cycle of mutual influence,” says Ms. Heaney. “Consumer preferences drive brand attributes, while brand offerings determine consumer options. With the right decisions on both sides of the equation, this can be a virtuous circle.”
More than half (61%) of consumers are likely to switch to a brand that is more environmentally friendly than their current preference, according to a report on sustainable packaging in the United Kingdom and United States, published by GlobalWebIndex earlier this year.
