Millennials, who are today in decision-making positions and Generation Z, who hold our future in their hands, are overwhelmingly pro-sustainability and are showing this with their every action. Worldwide, companies and organisations are taking action to benefit from the transition to the Sustainable, Circular Economy. Are your competitors better prepared? Are they dealing more successfully with stricter regulations and changing buying and decision-making patterns?

• Deloitte: Business leaders can win the loyalty of millennials by driving societal and economic change.
• Morgan Stanley research results: Companies must engage with sustainable development or face being left out of investment decisions by Millennials, one of the largest generations in history moving into its prime spending years.
• 84% of Millennial investors interested in sustainable investing (Morgan Stanley)
• There is an accelerating growth of people choosing sustainable brands (Nielsen 30,000 consumers in 60 countries)
• Millennials love CSR (Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK)

More research: Sustainable Development Makes Good Business Sense

• 2 out of 4 major consumer trends relate to sustainability (Mintel)
• Mintel research: Key 2018 consumer trends relate to sustainability
• Corporate sustainability and profitability are interrelated (Oxford University)
• High Sustainability companies significantly outperform their counterparts over the long-term, in both stock market and accounting performance (Harvard Business School)
• Gender diversity across a company increases productivity (MIT News)

Generation Z is emerging as the Sustainability Generation

According to a recent study by First Insight cited by Forbes, the vast majority of Generation Z shoppers prefer to buy sustainable brands, and are most willing to spend 10 percent more on sustainable products.

The study also found that Generation Z, along with Millennials, are the most likely to make purchase decisions based on personal, social, and environmental values and principles.

According to another survey by DoSomething, also cited by Forbes, 75 percent of Generation Z respondents wanted to see that brands were ensuring employee and consumer safety.

Additionally, according to the 2022 Gartner Sustainability Opportunities, Risks and Technologies Survey:

• For 86% of business leaders, sustainability is an investment that protects their organisations from disruption
• Four out of five leaders think sustainability helps their organisation optimise and reduce costs
• 83% say their sustainability programme activities directly generated both short- and long-term value for their organisations

We firmly believe that we must all take a step back and see the forest. We must address serious environmental issues but also take positive action to develop the economies and societies on which we rely for growth and profit.

Also read:

• How to use the GRI Standards ASAP to accelerate positive change
• Case Studies: How companies are cleaning their supply chains of bad environmental and social practices
• Case studies: How companies are affecting positive change on the economies and societies they operate in and rely on for profit/growth
• Laying the foundation for good communication with responsible CSR/ sustainability reporting
• Are your competitors better prepared?

Simon Pitsillides
Sustainability Reporting and Marketing Communication Strategy Expert. Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) a Fellow of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (FISEP) and a Chartered Marketer, and holds an MBA in Marketing. He is a GRI and ISEP Trainer, the publisher of www.sustaincase.com and owner of www.fbrh.co.uk. Simon teaches the FBRH GRI Standards Certified, ISEP & CIM Recognised Course (venue: London School of Economics (LSE). 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-pitsillides

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised Sustainability Course | Venue: London LSE

By registering for the next 2-day FBRH GRI Standards Certified & ISEP recognised course you will be taking the first step in gaining the many benefits of sustainability reporting.

The post License to operate – Millennials, Generation Z appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

Based on the findings of relevant surveys, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) identified a number of key behaviour patterns in millennial consumers (18- to 34-year-olds) regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

• 81% of millennials would like companies to publicly commit to CSR values

• 92% of millennials would choose to buy from a company committed to ethical business practices

• 64% of millennial females bought, in the past year, a cause-related product

• 82% of millennials would strive to be employed by a company recognized for its commitment to business ethics

• More than 9 out of 10 millennials would change brands to a cause-related one

• 73% of millennials would pay extra for sustainable offerings – a significant increase from 50% in 2014

Moreover, according to the surveys, millennials would:

• buy environmentally or socially beneficial products
• offer voluntary support for a cause promoted by a trusted company
• express their views to a company regarding its CSR programs
• mention to their friends and family a company’s CSR initiatives

References:

This article was compiled using a publication by the Chartered Institute of Marketing. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the publication’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the links below:

https://exchange.cim.co.uk/infographic/millennials-love-csr/?utm_source=Exchange%20newsletter&utm_campaign=Exchange%20newsletter&utm_medium=Email&_cldee=c2ltb25AZmJyaC5ldQ%3d%3d&recipientid=contact-45545ffae8f4e4118103c4346bad1218-c1c53dcf21664731945075fba1549b47&esid=6f74b51b-5aaa-e611-80ef-5065f38bc591&urlid=2

https://www.philanthropy.com/items/biz/pdf/AflacCorporateSocialResponsibility.pdf

http://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2015-cone-communications-millennial-csr-study

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2015/the-sustainability-imperative.html

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According to a new survey by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing, among 1,000 active individual investors, interest in sustainable investing continues to grow steadily, especially among a younger generation of investors: Millennials, who believe that their investments can have a positive social and environmental impact.

Millennial investors tend to incorporate sustainability into their decisions. In fact, since 2014 sustainable investing has increased by more than 33%, from $6.57 trillion to almost $9 trillion.

More specifically, according to the survey:

• 86 per cent of Millennials are interested in sustainable investing  Tweet This!
• Millennial investors are twice as likely, compared to other investors, to invest in companies focused on social or environmental targets
• 89 per cent of Millennials are interested in sustainable investments that could be customized to respond to their interests and goals
• 75 per cent of Millennial investors believe that their investments may “influence the amount of climate change caused by human activities”
• 84 per cent of Millennials believe that their investment decisions may help lift people out of poverty
• 61 per cent of Millennial investors have taken at least one sustainability-related investment action over the last year
• 90 per cent of Millennial investors are interested in pursuing sustainable investments as part of their 401(k) portfolios

Audrey Choi, Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan Stanley, said that, with widespread attention to sustainability issues and objectives steadily increasing, “consumers and investors alike are now more than ever factoring sustainability issues into their investment decisions”.

References:

This article was compiled using a press release by Morgan Stanley and the publication “Sustainable Signals New Data from the Individual Investor”. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the press release’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the links below:

https://www.morganstanley.com/press-releases/morgan-stanley-survey-finds-interest-in-sustainable-investing-st

http://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/sustainable-socially-responsible-investing-millennials-drive-growth

http://www.morganstanley.com/pub/content/dam/msdotcom/ideas/sustainable-signals/pdf/Sustainable_Signals_Whitepaper.pdf

The post Morgan Stanley: Millennials sustainable investing continues to intensify appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

This case study is based on the 2014 Corporate Responsibility Report by Merck & Co. published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.

Merck & Co. assesses the safety of its products in rigorous clinical trials  Tweet This! before they are approved, committed to the timely registration of clinical trial information and disclosure of trial results – regardless of the outcome. After measuring and setting targets, Merck & Co. took action to promote monitoring and compliance as well as risk management for all products, rigorously study products and work with regulators and healthcare professionals to characterize their safety profile, communicate about product risks and, also, identify, evaluate and report adverse experiences occurring in association with the use of its products.

The post Case study: How Merck & Co. promotes patient and product safety appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

According to the 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study, based on the findings of a survey among 1,003 18- to 34-year-olds, Millennials show strong support, in a number of ways, for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts by companies. More specifically:

• 91% of Millennials would change brands to a cause-related one  Tweet This! (of comparable quality and price)

• 87% of Millennials would buy environmentally or socially beneficial products and 59% bought such a product in the past year

• 88% of Millennials would stop buying products from a company with bad business practices

• When deciding what to buy or where to go shopping, 81% of Millennials take into account a company’s social and environmental initiatives

• 70% of Millennials would pay more for sustainable products

• A company supporting a social or environmental cause would be seen more positively by 93% of Millennials

• For 86% of Millennials companies should not just make profits but tackle social and environmental issues

• 81% and 82% of Millennials, respectively, would like companies to report on their progress in their CSR efforts and generate and communicate outcomes

References:

This article was compiled using a study by Cone Communications. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the study’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

http://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2015-cone-communications-millennial-csr-study

The post Cone Communications research: Millennials embrace CSR appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

In 2015 American insurance company Aflac & LightSpeed GMI conducted a survey, in which 6,000 consumers and 355 investment professionals were asked their views about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and initiatives by businesses. Key findings were as follows:

• 79% of consumers believed companies committed to ethical business practices outperformed others in their sector

• 81% of consumers would choose to buy from a company involved in philanthropic activities constantly – not only in difficult times

• 92% of millennials (18- to 34-year-olds) would prefer to buy from a company committed to business ethics

• 69% of consumers would invest in an ethical company

• A company’s commitment to CSR and corporate ethics is the second highest priority – after salary – for consumers, as regards a potential employer

• 75% of consumers would prefer to work for a company with solid CSR practices

• 82% of millennials, and 74% of all consumers, would strive to be employed by a company recognized for its commitment to ethical business practices

References:

This article was compiled using a survey by American insurance company Aflac & LightSpeed GMI. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the survey’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

https://www.philanthropy.com/items/biz/pdf/AflacCorporateSocialResponsibility.pdf

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The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford and Arabesque Asset Management explored, in a report, more than 200 academic studies and sources dealing with sustainability, with a focus on the connection between corporate social responsibility and profitability. According to the report, ‘responsibility and profitability are not incompatible, but in fact wholly complementary’.

Three key findings regarding the relationship between sustainability and the cost of capital, operational performance, and stock price performance

Overall, from the studies reviewed, three highly important findings emerged:

• ‘90% of the cost of capital studies show that sound Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards lower the cost of capital.’

• ‘88% of the studies show that solid ESG practices result in better operational performance.’

• ‘80% of the studies show that stock price performance is positively influenced by good sustainability practices.’

The report’s conclusions

• Managers will only gain from incorporating sustainability into their strategic decisions, as will institutional investors and trustees if they ‘require the inclusion of sustainability parameters into the overall investment process’.

• ‘Investors should be active owners and exert their influence on the management of their invested companies to improve the management of sustainability parameters that are most relevant to operational and investment performance.’

• Asset management companies will only gain from incorporating sustainability in investment procedures.

• ‘The future of active ownership will most likely be one where multiple stakeholders (such as individual investors and consumers) are involved in setting the agenda for the active ownership strategy of institutional investors.’

• Research is needed to ‘identify which sustainability parameters are the most relevant for operational
  performance and investment returns’.

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

References:

This article was compiled using a report by The Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford and Arabesque Asset Management. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/research/

The post Oxford University: Corporate sustainability and profitability are interrelated appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.

In order to investigate investors’ attitudes towards sustainable investing (investing in companies or funds striving to achieve a positive social and/or environmental impact), identifying trends and expectations, the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing surveyed 800 individual investors, including 200 Millennials (18- to 32-year-olds).

Key findings include:

• 71% of the individual investors surveyed were interested in sustainable investing and 65% thought sustainable investing would become more widespread in the next five years

• 84% of Millennial investors were interested in sustainable investing. More specifically, Millennial investors were:
  • almost twice more likely, compared to the rest, to invest in companies or funds striving to achieve specific social and/or environmental results
  • almost twice as likely to invest in companies or funds that used their environmental, social or governance practices to gain a competitive advantage
  • more than twice as likely to not invest in a company because of offensive business activities

• As workers and consumers, Millennial investors were:
  • almost three times more likely (compared to the rest) to choose an employer because of the employer’s approach to social and/or environmental issues
  • almost twice as likely to purchase a product based on a company’s social and/or environmental impact and check a product’s packaging using sustainability criteria

• Female investors were more interested in sustainable investing compared to male investors, were almost twice as likely to take into consideration both rate of return and a positive impact when making their investment decisions and were, also, more likely to think about sustainability in their decision making as consumers

• 45% of individual investors saw companies that integrated sustainability into their business practices as more innovative, 30% thought they attracted better talent and 72% believed such companies were capable of becoming more profitable and were better long-term investment choices

References:

This article was compiled using a paper published by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the paper’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

https://www.morganstanley.com/sustainableinvesting/pdf/Sustainable_Signals.pdf

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Over 30,000 consumers in 60 countries were polled about their purchasing behaviour with 66 per cent of them prepared to pay more for sustainable brands—an 11% increase from the previous year.

This upward trend is expected to continue as Millennials, one of the largest generations in history, are about to move into their prime spending years. 73 per cent of them are willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings—up from 50 per cent in 2014.

“Sustainability is a worldwide concern that continues to gain momentum—especially in countries where growing populations are putting additional stress on the environment,” says Grace Farraj, senior vice president, Public Development & Sustainability, Nielsen. “An increasing number of consumers in developed regions consider sustainability actions more of an imperative than a value-add.”

Brand trust is a key sustainability factor that will influence almost two-thirds of global consumers.

“This indicates an opportunity for consumer-goods’ brands that have already built a high level of trust with consumers to evaluate where best to introduce sustainable products into the market to drive growth,” says Carol Gstalder, senior vice president, Reputation & Public Relations Solutions, Nielsen. “On the flip side, large global consumer-goods’ brands that ignore sustainability increase reputational and business risk. This may give competitors of all sizes, the opportunity to build trust with the predominantly young, socially- conscious consumer looking for products that align with their values.”

Nielsen’s research also found that 66 percent of consumers were willing to pay more for sustainable goods in comparison to 50 percent in 2013.

This behaviour isn’t just limited to the wealthy in big economies. In fact, consumers earning $20,000 per annum or less are actually 5 per cent more willing than those with incomes greater than $50,000 p.a. to pay more for products and services from companies with a commitment to sustainability.

A testing economic climate has left the Millennials (born between 1980-2000) undeterred about the cost of paying extra for sustainable offerings, rising to 73 per cent from 50 per cent in 2014.

Under 20s, or Generation Z as they are also known, are demonstrating equal determination to align their pennies with their values. 72 per cent would spend their income with companies who were committed to sustainability, and increase from the 55 percent polled in 2014.

The Millennials and Generation Z are set to dominate spending in the years to come making an alignment with their values at the earliest opportunity a sound investment for the future.

References:

1) This article was compiled using Nielsen’s 2015 Global Corporate Sustainability Report. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the Report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the link below:

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/dk/docs/global-sustainability-report-oct-2015.pdf

2) http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/millennials/

3) http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2014/12/29/5-traits-that-define-the-80-million-millennial-customers-coming-your-way/#434fd3992a81

4) http://www.psfk.com/2016/08/what_sustainability_means_to_millennial_generation.html

5) https://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/csr-sustainability-facts-and-research

The post Consumers prepared to pay more for sustainable brands – significant year-on-year increase – major Nielsen study (30,000 consumers in 60 countries) appeared first on SustainCase - Sustainability Magazine.