Five predictions on the future of corporate sustainability

Last week I got an email from the sixth senior sustainability person I know whose job has been eliminated in the last six months. It’s easy to look at that and assume Corporate America no longer sees sustainability as a strategic imperative for business growth.  

Yet, the sustainability marketing communications agency I lead sits inside the world’s leading sustainability consultancy, ERM, and we are continuing to be sought out by clients across a range of sectors to advise and support them on the tough challenges of sustainability.

The way I see it, sustainability as a strategic imperative for business growth is still alive — but it’s quieter and requires sustainability professionals like us to adjust how we support it. 

Having worked in sustainability communications for 20 years now, I have seen several important shifts in the last 12-18 months that I think foretell where the sustainability sector is heading. Here’s how the future looks from where I sit:

1. Success will be driven by execution with positive financial impacts. Many people who have built careers in sustainability were able to do so because they were fantastic consensus builders. Most of the people I know who have the word sustainability in their title are likeable, passionate, good listeners and communicators, and are skilled at bringing people along. While those skills are useful in any job, the focus now is on results. The sustainability sector’s toolbox is full of tools that help us identify material issues and set goals — But executing to manage material issues and turn them into business successes requires a deep understanding of technology (including AI), data, market conditions and innovation. In short, success in corporate sustainability will require a different toolbox than the one we’ve largely used for the past 20 years.
2. Future CSOs will also be CIOs, CTOs and/or CFOs. I’ve known many sustainability executives who have come from communications, legal, EHS and yes, sometimes corporate innovation or supply chain. The CSOs that will succeed in the future will be people who have experience in ALL of those areas, plus finance, risk and digital. Much like large CPG companies rotate emerging business leaders through a series of roles at various brands, so too will companies need to create a holistic training track for tomorrow’s sustainability leaders. We will need leaders who have a deep understanding of business and innovation and data and sustainability regulatory requirements. And they will need to be focused on execution.
3. Packaging innovations and circularity will be core. We’ve seen in our data for years that while people are concerned about climate change, they’re even more concerned about plastics in the ocean. None of us want to be part of the problem, but waste is tangible and visible, so we can easily see how we contribute. Seven states have already put Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs into law and many more have proposed legislation on the horizon. Companies doing business in the U.S. will have no choice but to rethink their end-of-use models for both products and packaging to avoid higher fees and preserve margin. The companies who embrace these new regulations and figure out how to win at the circularity game will be more profitable. 
4. AI will make sustainability reporting and communicating easier — and harder. In a matter of minutes, AI will be able to tell anybody if a company’s sustainability claims have data to back them up. So hiding behind platitudes won’t work going forward. AI will also make it easier and faster to collect data, identify gaps and focus teams on filling the gaps prior to annual reporting.
5. Communications will be the bridge from consumer expectations to trust. Our team will publish more on this in the coming months, but as the Edelman Trust Barometer consistently shows, trust in most institutions is down, especially for people who feel aggrieved. Yet as ERM Shelton’s data shows, expectations for companies to take responsibility for their actions continue to increase. That creates a pretty wide gap that didn’t exist 15 years ago. The bridge is communications. Telling people what you’re doing for people and the planet — backed by data — appeals to their expectations and builds trust.

Sustainability as a business imperative and a lever for growth, differentiation and competitiveness is still alive and well. It just may look a little different in the future than it has in the past. And that’s likely a good thing.