Going Green : No More Slacking On Sustainability

“NO MATTER WHAT, SUSTAIN ABILITY IS NO LONGER A NICHE PLAY: YOUR BOTTOM-LINE AND BRAND GROWTH DEPEND ON IT.”

Maybe we’ve just been too busy struggling to survive. How else to explain the apparent dearth of any — or any substantial — environmental sustainability initiatives at many media companies? After a rush of sustainability policy activity about ten years ago when the topic was initially hot, going green in media lately seems to have been reduced to creating print and/or digital editions or big text or digital packages about climate change spelling out how businesses, governments, and our readers can and should become good environmental citizens.

But as far as we ourselves becoming good environmental citizens goes…

Well, we're either doing a terrible job telling people what we're doing, or we really have been too distracted with the other, more basic tasks of figuring out how to survive and thrive.

To be fair, some media companies have created environmental sustainability mission statements. Some have identified measurable goals to reduce their environmental impact. Some have established internal teams to examine their own practices and processes with an eye toward reducing or eliminating any that were environmentally harmful. And some have even published the results of their efforts.

But a review of the 30 largest media companies in the world and a random search of other large media companies reveals that many don't have sustainability policies or goals, and of those that do, many of the mission statements and goals have either never been substantiated with progress reports or their progress reports have not been updated in many years.

(I hereby invite you, if you have sustainability mission statements, measurable goals, and progress reports, to please reach out to me for next year's book — wilpers@innovation.media.)

Multiple Google searches for sustainability activities by media companies turned up virtually nothing. That result reinforces the conclusion that, if we actually are doing sustainable things, then we are terrible at marketing ourselves to a public increasingly aware of and expecting corporations to actively and aggressively take responsibility for their environmental impact and take action to reduce it. To make their point, consumers are supporting such companies with their money, and abandoning those who don't.

Virtually everyone on the planet is now increasingly aware of the global climate crisis (with some notable, regrettable exceptions). Therefore, now is the perfect time to get really serious about sustainability.

And guess what? It's a win-win-win proposition. Sustainability activities deliver a tripleplay of benefits:

1. Improved consumer relations: Studies have shown consumers prefer to support companies with a track record of sustainable practices

2. Bottom-line savings: Studies have shown that you can actually improve your bottom line by implementing sustainable initiatives

3. Saving the planet: After an initial environmental audit of your activities, you can subsequently prove that your efforts are reducing your carbon footprint, among other things. What's not to like about that?

A recent study by global data firm Nielsen examining the consumer journey to demand sustainability from corporations concluded bluntly:

“No matter what, sustainability is no longer a niche play: your bottom-line and brand growth depend on it.”

1. IMPROVED CONSUMER RELATIONS

( OR DOING WHAT YOUR CONSUMERS ARE ALREADY DEMANDING OF YOU )

“Corporate responsibility and sustainability strategies may take different shapes around the world, but one thing is clear: consumers are using their spending power to effect the change they want to see,” said Regan Leggett, Executive Director of Nielsen's Global Thought Leadership and Foresight Team.

“This isn't a trend a company can simply side-step,” he said. “Sooner or later, whether through government regulation, sheer force of