Consumers growing environmental awareness will continue to drive sustainability in 2013 and beyond. The American economy appears to be inching slowly in a positive direction and a spate of extreme weather events over the last couple of years is contributing to consumer’s burgeoning environmental awareness. Increasingly consumers are looking beyond the barcode to help them make their purchasing decisions. Businesses need to respond to consumer demand to gain customers and avoid losing their market share. Here is a succinct summary of salient sustainability trends for 2013:
A short time ago consumers carbon footprints meant nothing to consumers. Now many consumers not only understand the concept of environmental impacts they are demanding that businesses act to make their operations more sustainable. Consumers can increasingly be expected to seek out products and services with smaller footprints. This can include everything from manufacturing to packaging.
Consumers and investors want environmental impact information, they expect to see annual sustainability impact reports. Some stock exchanges already require sustainability metrics.
Buyers are increasingly asking suppliers to measure their environmental impacts and carbon emissions in their value chain. In many cases failure to provide such information, or performing poorly can undermine these business relationships.
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