How to win a sustainable future
In a world where sustainable businesses are surging ahead at a blistering 10% annual growth rate, it's clear that the era of sustainability has arrived. Industry titans like Unilever, Patagonia, and IKEA have embraced sustainability and reaped its abundant rewards. They have not only witnessed staggering valuations but also earned an invaluable brand reputation while boosting staff retention and morale.
So, what sets these visionary brands apart? It's not just their genuine commitment to sustainability through actions, goals, and innovation. A vital reason why these legacy brands are known today as leaders in sustainable transformation is, pretty simply, because we know about it. The bottom line is that vocally sustainable businesses win. Silently sustainable ones don’t.
Flourish is a change agency for businesses whose admirable progress or hard-earned sustainability credentials are fearfully hidden away in the footnotes (aka CSR section) of their brand story. We see you. But, right now, your audiences don’t. And for the sake of both the planet and your own commercial success, we need you to be louder.
Why keep quiet?
Too many well-meaning organisations are guilty of ‘greenhushing’ – downplaying or totally concealing their own sustainability efforts. It’s usually founded on the fear of being caught making false claims (greenwashing) or tripping up on (the often ambiguous and confusing) guidelines for sustainability communications. Whatever the reason, fear is always the enemy of success.
In a commercial landscape of savvy citizens and rightfully strict legal regulation, a lot of businesses feel safer making progress in silence. But that same landscape is also ripe with commercial opportunities that fearful brands are willfully passing up. 47% of citizens say they would buy more sustainably if there was more proof that the product was genuinely sustainable, and one in four say that they would pay a premium for sustainable products. They’re asking for knowledge, transparency, and inspiration to make better choices. And whoever gives it to them will emerge the most loved, efficient, and high-profit businesses as we urgently shift towards a more sustainable economy.
It’s hard to communicate sustainability stories safely and effectively. Marketers at genuinely good brands are walking a tightrope, risking two equally terrifying falls – the dangers of greenwashing on one side and the risks of greenhushing on the other.
But here’s the glaring reality: businesses that communicate the importance they place on ESG have enjoyed profit growth of 9.1% relative to 3.7% for those that don’t. Flourish is here to help good organisations benefit from their progress and gain a competitive advantage, all while raising the bar for the global business community.
The dangers of greenhushing
Greenwashing is abhorrent. It misleads citizens, breeds skepticism, erodes trust, and discredits the business and products that genuinely are sustainable. It undermines the regulations in place as part of the movement to save humanity and our planet. In the very real context of the climate crisis, benefitting from claims that aren’t real is a short-term gain that’s stealing time from future generations.
Getting caught or accused of greenwashing is a reputational death sentence. But staying silent about genuine action could help to land businesses (as well as the planet) in a similarly grim fate. Greenhushing is dangerous because it stalls the sustainability movement, which is already moving far too slowly as is. What fearful brands don’t realise is that their silence is sending a much more powerful message than they’d probably like to think.
As Paul Polman has said, visibly sustainable businesses ‘create more value, attract more consumers, customers and partners, heal the planet, and increase the well-being of everyone they impact.’ So, by keeping quiet about their sustainable activities and not reporting on progress, businesses that greenhush are destroying their own value by indirectly:
Sending conscious consumers over to businesses that are vocal about their progress,
Limiting awareness that could help citizens build a stronger understanding of what to demand in a sustainable economy,
Deterring the best future talent (one in three Gen Z workers have rejected job offers based on a company’s visible ESG record, and 66% have left for purpose-related reasons)
Risking falling behind when ESG-related laws begin to demand full disclosure of green targets and initiatives.
The bottom line: authentic sustainable progress guarantees commercial success. Each one naturally propels the other. But only if citizens, employees and communities alike can feel that you’re serious and excited about positive change.
Find your balance on the tightrope
Anxiety about greenwashing is causing inertia and greenhushing. We don’t have time for inertia.
Businesses need to accelerate the rate at which citizens shift to buying their sustainable products, doing their part to radically reduce the purchase of harmful ones.
Real sustainable business transformation is hard. It deserves to be recognised. Businesses need to realise the value of their investments in sustainability so they can accelerate the good they put back into the world while, in turn, enjoying a sharp valuation increase.
Flourish empowers marketers with the capabilities and confidence to tell inspiring sustainability stories by:
Inspiring the C-suite with the business case for sustainability as the success driver,
Ensuring all claims and communications are founded on true, tangible action and authentic plans,
Accelerating sales of sustainable products.
Leaders have the opportunity to drive business success by making sustainability the business strategy. And marketers have the opportunity to make sustainability the reason their brands are loved and chosen.
Flourish exists to make sure the future of business is sustainable. Because there is no future for business without a future for the planet. We work with senior business leaders to accelerate sustainability within your organisation and tell your sustainability story, without the greenwashing. Get in touch today to find out how.
