A Sustainable Future?
While sustainability is often associated with natural resources, it also refers to societal and economic resources. Many refer to this as “planet, people and profit.”
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world in early 2020, Ipsos had already seen that sustainability would be a key priority for our clients over the coming years.
So we knew it should be one of our main priorities too.
Ipsos is leading discussions on sustainability and climate change by shining a light on the concerns and expectations of citizens and consumers around the world: we are taking an active role in the COP26 Climate Change Conference.
And, as we continue to live through pandemic times, the message from the public is clear: climate change is as serious a crisis as Covid-19, and people do not want to see work to improve our environment downgraded while the world continues to grapple with the virus and its implications.
71% worldwide agree that, in the long-term, climate change is as serious as crisis as Covid-19 is.
With the aim of helping us all to develop our understanding of the subject, here we bring together some of the key work that our teams around the world have been generating in anticipation of, and in response to, this growing demand for more sustainable practices.
The collection presented here includes a look at what we call the Sustainability Imperative, which sets out our point of view on how businesses should respond to the growing demand from citizens and consumers for sustainable products and services.
On this question of how businesses should respond, new conversations are taking shape around how the “E” and the “S” of ESG are blurring, the implication being that environmental and social initiatives can’t work in silos any more organisations need to address all sustainability angles.
Indeed, the table stakes are constantly shifting. Everyone else is making net zero pledges and cracking down on packaging waste, so by following others or just doing the minimum, you may just blend in. Then again, be too ambitious in your talk without achieving anything and you risk being charged with greenwashing.
These are among the themes we pick up on in this edition of True Understanding. Our articles explore how organisations can respond and help to bridge the consumer say-do gap.
Sustainability remains a topic where the dynamics of public opinion remain fluid. We hope this collection, looking at expectations for a sustainable future and the challenges of personal action, and bringing together our recent research with people around the world can contribute to building a more nuanced understanding.
Read here about Ipsos’ own commitment to ESG and our CSR over the past decade, most recently setting a target towards carbon neutrality.
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