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Four Sustainable Business Trends in 2021 That You Can Learn From

As the world struggles with emerging climate disasters happening all around the world, companies and business owners are required to re-think their way of doing businesses so as to not worsen the climate crisis. Sustainability has now become a must, and for a reason that goes beyond empty jargons. 

It has been proven time and again that incorporating sustainability in one’s businesses does more good than harm, especially in the long run. By conducting business processes in a green, sustainable, and ethical manner, companies can attract more revenues and contribute positively to society and the planet.    


In the following paragraphs, we summarize four sustainable business trends that companies shouldn’t miss out on and strive for instead if they want to contribute in reversing the climate crisis and preventing the global temperature from reaching 2 degree celsius. 

Eco-Designed Products

The current rate of our production and consumption pattern is far from sustainable, and if this keeps going on, we will need more than one earth to fulfill our needs. That brings us to the concept of eco-designed products, which is an approach of integrating environmental aspects over a service or a product’s lifecycle. 

Some of the aspects that need to be considered in making an eco-designed product are regarding the extraction of raw materials and supply, the manufacturing process, product distribution, consumer use, and also the end of the product’s lifecycle. 

There are many things that companies can do, for example, improving the supply chain to be more ethical and responsibly-sourced, and minimizing waste and pollution production. Last but not least, businesses can also design their products in ways that make reusing and recycling easier for consumers. 

ESG Investment 

ESG stands for Environment, Social, and Governance. It’s basically a framework for assessing how one company performs based on those aspects compared to its competitors. Consequently, ESG Investing means “investing in companies that score highly on environmental and societal responsibility scales as determined by third-party, independent companies and research groups” (Forbes.com)

Data suggests that ESG investment performs well, if not better, than traditional investments. This is evident in the analysis conducted by the S&P Global Market Intelligence towards 26 ESG exchange-traded between March 5, 2020 to March 5, 2021, which found that 19 of those funds performed better than the S&P 500.  

Among other things, the COVID19 Pandemic has escalated discussions about the strong correlation between sustainability and the financial system, hence forcing more and more investors and companies to take up ESG investment. 

Moreover, each ESG aspect has several indicators in terms of measuring companies’ performances, for example in Environment, the factors are namely carbon emissions, air and water pollution, energy efficiency, and waste management. For Social, some of the factors include data protection and privacy, gender and diversity, human rights, and labor standards. Last but not least, the Governance aspect includes board composition, audit committee structure, and political contributions. 

Cheaper Renewable Energy

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) report in 2020 entitled Renewable Power Generation Costs revealed that the costs for renewable technologies are continuing to fall “significantly” on a yearly basis. 

This is important because renewable energy getting cheaper means that  both developed and developing countries now have all the more reason to phase out fossil fuels and transition to renewables while still meeting the growing energy demands, saving costs, and also creating more green jobs

In addition, retiring costly coal plants would also stop the emission of about three gigatonnes of CO2 a year – 20% of the reduction in emissions needed by 2030 to avert climate catastrophe.

Renewable Cost 2020

Net-zero Emissions Companies

To avoid the worst climate impacts, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will need to drop half by 2030 and reach net-zero around mid-century. In regards to this notion, national governments and companies are making and submitting their commitments to reach net-zero emissions within their jurisdictions or businesses. 

So what does it mean to be net-zero? To put it simply, a nation or company can be called net-zero when all of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that they emit are counterbalanced by the emissions that they remove from the atmosphere. 

Committing to net-zero is one of the ways companies can incorporate in their sustainability strategy and help reversing the climate crisis. 

The Time is Now

So whether your company decides to improve your supply chain, focus on ESG investment, shift to renewables, or even install a better waste management system with a thorough solid waste research before-hand, make sure that you design, conduct, monitor, and measure the impacts of these strategies properly. 

In addition, remember that these changes and transitions will not be easy. It requires strong political will and even stronger commitment to get the job done, but keep in mind that changes are bound to happen and the time is now.  

References: 

https://youmatter.world/en/definition/definition-eco-design-examples-definition/

https://www.iberdrola.com/social-commitment/eco-design-sustainable-products

https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/research/esg-investing

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-is-esg-investing-and-why-is-it-worth-trillions-2021-07-15

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/esg-investing/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/renewables-cheapest-energy-source/

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