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Trends Briefing: Sustainability During a Crisis… and Beyond

Sustainability matters to both businesses and individuals.

The issue rose in prominence since the turn of the millennium as growing public awareness combined with the very real impacts of climate change on the global stage. Not all consumers are the same, and shades of green exist, but sustainability became a central issue for British consumers – with public concern peaking in the UK alongside COP26 late in 2021.

A lot has happened in little over a year.

The worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, sky-rocketing energy bills as Russia invaded Ukraine, and the looming spectre of recession. During the last economic downturn concern about sustainability plummeted as personal finances came first. Recovery was a long process – but the recent resilience of sustainability concern during the pandemic, where concern only dipped for a short period before recovering to near-normal levels, hints things may be different this time around. Any decline may not be for long.

Climate concern has grown deep roots. Sustainability may be down, for a time, but it is not out.

Looking further out into this decade and beyond, big questions around sustainability and what it will mean to consumers are emerging. As the direct impact of climate change on the UK grows will Consumption Guilt grow with it? What new areas of consumer spending, or organisational operations, will come under new scrutiny? How might sustainability play into new understandings of quality and value?

And as the macro-scale of the climate change problem becomes ever more apparent, and the macro-scale of the responses required to it clear, will the onus shift from individuals and onto businesses and governments themselves?

Hope for change could quickly become demands.

Feb 23, 2023 09:00 AM in London