5 Sustainable Business Trends In 2022

The most important sustainable business trends to look out for are based on ‘net-zero’ emissions. You will see almost all the businesses out there using this term in their sustainability report. This is being aided by climate positivity & sustainable choices trending all over the world. ESG Investment is taking over the world like rapid fire & many investors are basing their investment designs in lieu with ESG protocols.

So, what are sustainable business trends?

Sustainable business trends entail a responsible running of business that inspires sustainability for better resource allocation for all & future generations. The major ESG [Environment, Social & Governance] protocols have taken over the world like a storm and the investors are now quickly evolving their investing policies in accordance to climate positivity, carbon footprint, carbon offset & the likes mechanism. More transparency is sought by the young generation to tackle the climate issue.

Here in this article we will discuss about the raging sustainability trends globally,

Sustainable Business Trends in 2022

1. Sustainable Products is your go-to for futuristic profit model

Sustainability is the new golden coin that works on many levels for the companies. In addition to being responsible, endorsing & inculcating sustainable products in your selling list will derive immense benefits for you in the long run. The new-age customers are hell bent (as they should be) on buying products that render green and sustainable outcomes. The world is getting more and more educated on green & sustainability mechanisms and that is what they expect from their sellers too. 

Fashion brands like Puma & Adidas are day by day getting more sustainability oriented. New Research suggests that around 67% of the modern-day consumers consider & keep sustainability in mind when they purchase any fashion based item. [Source: Mckinsey]

Food production is getting more conscious & deliberate in recent times. The hype around food production (very urgent & legitimate, I must add!) is well in place & its high time people start to consciously make sustainable choices about their food habits. Various brands like Unilever are working towards increasing plant-based meat and dairy alternatives sales closing in on 1 billion pounds in the next 5-7 years. [Source: Unilever]

Did you know that Food production accounted for 34% of the overall global greenhouse gas emissions? [Source: DTE]

Thus the catch for you is that if you are business looking for quick future benefits, shift your focus to sustainability. Sustainable business trends are the new voice of reason & in no time you will have to adhere to all its stake-points!

2. ESG is the new sustainable business trends setter

ESG (Environment, Social & Governance) is a new form of investing that is taking up platforms to filter investment opportunities. With Environment & Social as the main drivers for this investment standard, it is only to be expected that major global as well as national investors are going to invest in firms and companies that show credibility and reliability in accordance with sustainable standards. Since the lockdowns due to Covid came into picture, the world became very conscious about ESG protocols and they are one of the most raging sustainable business trends to follow in the coming future. Many big investing firms have now made sustainability at the core of their functioning, like for example BlackRock.

To get started about ESG protocols, start with consulting companies that specialise in ESG based underpinnings, find your consultation here.

3. Renewable Energy alterations are here to stay

Well, everybody should be aware of this in the least. The world is raging and burning under the systematics of fossil fuel usage. In addition to hyper increase in GHG emissions, fossil fuels are earth’s non-renewable resources. By allocating fossil fuel usage limited to our generation only, we are stealing from sustainability for future generations. In the news now is that fossil fuels are going to be more expensive than renewable energy resources! Who would have believed that 10 years ago, eh?

Wind and solar energy plants over the last few years have become around 70% cheaper & the capacities have increased manifold due to constant innovation in the sector. [Source: IEA]

If you are a business looking for cheap alternatives to your energy solutions, now is the time to invest in renewable energy resources because they will continue to have immense capacity because the tech follows a learning curve that is very rapid in this sector.

4. Work from home is a good news that won’t get old

A boon from the COVID outbreak is this new standardised acceptable version of Work From Home and it is seemingly much more effective than the go-to work parameters, don’t you agree?

In addition to relief for the employees, it has immense impacts on the environment. The number of cars that used to be on the roads in rush hours has decreased considerably leading to lowering of transport based carbon emissions & energy consumption in office spaces. [Source: Ecowarrior]

Globally focussed companies like twitter and shopify have already committed to an overall full-time work from home bases even after the lockdowns.

If you are looking for something similar and this setup works for you, the advice would be to set up a working system that works both for you and your employees. There are many tools & applications in place that favour such a setup as you must now know due to mandatory lockdown work ethic.

5. Carbon Offsetting Will Go Mainstream

Carbon emissions is not something that is always under our control, as for that matter all of GHG. There will be some minimum burdens of carbon emissions at all stops, however much change is adopted and sustainable mechanisms are put in place. To aid and avoid the lopsidedness of this unavoidable carbon emission business, carbon offsetting is one way to tackle this. 

Carbon offsetting simply means making up for this unavoidable carbon emission of CO2 & other greenhouse gases. A carbon offset is what a company provides as funds to green projects & initiatives like planting trees etc. In 2022, carbon offsetting is becoming more of a norm as more companies are diving into “net-zero emissions”.

If you are a company looking to explore various kinds of carbon offsetting mechanisms available, you can read more here.

References:

• Mckinsey

• DTE

• Unilever

• IEA

• Ecowarrior