Ipsos Climate Change & Sustainability Practice

Expectations and demands for greater sustainable practices are increasing amongst all potential stakeholders from investors, shareholders, consumers, business partners, and pressure through evolving legislation. This pressure is further evidenced finding in Ipsos global corporate reputation council report where 55% of council members stated that ESG has fundamentally changed the way their business operates and 81% agree that poor ESG performance now has material consequences. So, it is no longer a question of when companies, governments and individuals should act but how they should go about it.

Ipsos shares the latest insights into environment, social and governance to highlight challenges and opportunities ahead. These insights illustrate the need to avoid silos when considering the E, S and G of sustainability, the fact that most citizens expect sustainably to be delivered as a co-benefit rather than ‘the’ benefit and that there is a clear gap in consumers and citizen understanding with regard to the actions they themselves could take to drive a more sustainable future for people and planet (i.e. The Believe-True Gap). The scope of issues and questions related to sustainability can be broadly grouped into five areas which are each addressed below.

Explore & Orientate, Identification & Focus, Execution, Communication, Monitoring & Evaluation

Discover our global ESG work

Concern about our environment is growing - it is hard to ignore the effects of climate change, such as the increase in frequency and intensity of weather events across the world. In fact, 81% of Britons say that we are heading for environmental disaster unless we change our habits quickly. There is an expectation for government and industry to act. But, when citizens consider the role of multi-national companies there is near equal priority given to environmental, social and governance issues (IGRM 2021), and these should not be considered in silos.

The pressure to act is coming from all directions: citizens, consumers, shareholders, investors, regulatory bodies and competitors. This need to act has never been more pressing, but Ipsos can help you identify where to start, how to understand the sustainability landscape and where your organisation fits in. This may require looking at your competitors and adjacent categories, assessing citizens’ experiences and needs, or exploring trends and futures relevant to your industry.

Identification & Focus

Once a foundation for action has been realised, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the number of opportunities. Ipsos can help you identify where to focus and what initiatives your organisation can own and implement, which is crucial to building a successful strategy and overall roadmap. We take into consideration current impact, stakeholder expectations, what is possible, and the value that this will bring for all. In addition, we consider how your organisation or brand purpose aligns with sustainability, what the risk is in not investing, and how your sustainability positioning can be appropriate and customised for your market, category or target audience, while acknowledging that not everyone is concerned or engaged. Moving forward with these answers and a clear direction of where and what to prioritise will be key to the effectiveness of your sustainability strategy.

Execution

Executing on your sustainability strategy will look different to every organisation, but the principles are the same whether you’re looking to create a new offering, update an existing one, or change internal processes, policies or supply chains. How will you continue to meet your audience’s needs and expectations and engage them to drive positive behavioural change? What are the trade-offs that may impact brand consideration versus the credible markers that will improve brand perception? Ipsos can help you address these questions through insight and understanding that will ensure that your plans are deliverable, create value for stakeholders and, most importantly, are sustainable for your organisation.

Communication around sustainability has grown exponentially in the last few years, so conveying your sustainability efforts successfully requires cutting through the clutter to capture your audience’s attention. But, accusations of ‘green’ or ‘social washing’ and associations with broad and bland messaging has created some nervousness on how, if, when and what to communicate.

However, communication is vital to understanding and engagement. If done effectively communications can be incredibly powerful as drivers for change. Ipsos conducted an analysis of 200+ adverts (cross market and sector) looking at sustainability messaging and identifying key takeaways that can help organisations to successfully change people’s perceptions, change behaviour and drive a more sustainable future for all, whilst also helping to grow sales and market share. We can help you better understand how to communicate to be true to the facts, true to the people, and true to the brand/organisation to drive real impact.

Your organisation’s sustainability journey will not be a linear one and will involve a series of ongoing steps/programmes/projects. On this journey Ipsos can help you to monitor and evaluate progress and what is driving success and failure, so it is possible to course correct if necessary. To do this we’ll work with you to identify what you should be tracking, whether it’s return on investment, market share, internal CSR objectives, corporate reputation or behaviour change. We’ll also help refine what success look likes like - how you compare to competitors, how new challenges, such as new regulations or technologies are impacting progress, and how different stakeholders are responding to the actions of the business/organisations. Finally, we’ll help you use this understanding to learn valuable lessons which can be fed back into your strategy and drive impact. 

People, Planet & Prosperity: The podcast

In the latest episode we talk to Rebecca Crosby and James Tarbit from Ipsos Karian & Box, our leading employee engagement agency. Rebecca is the lead author of a new white paper that examines the importance of ESG to how employees and potential employees view organisations, and we find out what makes employees satisfied with their organisation’s efforts around sustainability, how great ESG credentials impact pride and advocacy, how important sustainability is in attracting new talent, and the best ways to communicate with employees about sustainability.

Listen to this episode and subscribe to the series (search “Ipsos Views” on your preferred podcast platform).

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Contact the team

For more information about Ipsos’ Sustainability Practice and our capabilities, please contact Jessica Long or Rachel Brisley.