Sustainability For Business: Where Do We Go From Here?

There are a range of barriers preventing people from engaging with sustainability.

Be it falling victim to present bias- our tendency to favour smaller rewards in the present moment versus larger future rewards. Or grappling with the psychological distance of “climate change”. It might even be the lack of a positive feedback loop to reinforce constructive behaviours.

Meanwhile, additional barriers lie in the interaction between us and our environment.

If the sustainable option takes more effort: is expensive and complicated, it’s unlikely we’ll see people taking this route at scale.

It’s important to remember, we’re just not programmed to expend our energy fighting against our environment.

And this environment extends to our social surroundings as much as our physical.

When we see nobody else caring about sustainability, it can feel pointless.

Or if people we expected to behave sustainably- like government and industry figures- don’t, it can directly impact on our efforts and energy.

All of these factors lead to a sense of impact inadequacy.

It’s clear how the complexity of this topic can overwhelm us. Often into a state of paralysis or ignorance.

So, we must remember this. The way information is presented is crucial to its actionability.

With that in mind, I want to bring together 5 key takeaways. These will help you and I -individually, and collectively, move forward in pursuit of a more sustainable way of life.

1. Driving Sustainability Awareness Through Design and Communication

We can leverage the power of design and communication to drive awareness, engagement and understanding.

Education and awareness programs are a potential solution to several of the factors contributing to a lack of engagement in the topic of sustainability.

But, we need to recognise that we all have different levels of existing knowledge, motivation and time.

So how can we simplify complex sustainability concepts without losing nuance?

And how might we be able to use immersive technologies (like VR) to overcome psychological distance?

Perhaps there’s an opportunity for multi-level adult education and workplace training programs on sustainability.

When we educate, we need to think – how can I make this relevant, accessible, and engaging to the people I want to reach.

2. Talking About Sustainability in the Right Way

So let’s pay attention to how we talk about sustainability.

• We shouldn’t aim for, or expect perfection – neither from businesses, ourselves or others. And we should always avoid hyperbole.
• Let’s not deny evidence. We should respectfully challenge unfounded claims.
• Also, we should always seek solutions over scapegoats and progress over persecution.
• And let’s embed sustainability as a valid and valuable consideration in both our personal and professional lives.

Further to this, we would be dreaming if we expected everyone to stop living enjoyable lives in pursuit of a psychologically and temporally distant goal.

And we’re being naive if we expect everyone to want to make changes, let alone be able to.

So let’s adopt a market-oriented mindset to decide what we talk about and how we talk about it with different audiences.

3. Working Together to Take Action

In order to make meaningful change, we need to initiate and nurture group-based action.

• It could be a small working group within an organisation.
• A couple at home committing to certain lifestyle changes.
• Friends adjusting their leisure plans.
• Neighbours working together to facilitate tool sharing.
• Bringing sustainability into an existing group.
• Or possibly even joining specific community groups organised around sustainable living.

These actions will help us move away from seeing sustainable efforts as something we silently make by ourselves.

In fact, we each possess an agency of influence.

How can we, through the things we say and do, exert a positive influence on others.

And we shouldn’t feel shame in saying ‘I’m trying to cut down a little on ‘X’’.

Every social interaction we take equates to another step in establishing new social norms. And these norms become our culture.

4. Ensuring Business Accountability and Action

Identify how your business or organisation could play a role.

The specifics of this will depend on your position and role within the organisation.

You might be able to initiate and implement company-wide activities. Those in a product development or operational role might explore and source more sustainable ways of working.

Has the full product life cycle been considered? Is it adopting a innovative solution which already exists?

For those in leadership positions, is it about creating a sustainable strategy which astutely merges current commercial interest with those planetary and societal considerations?

Or it might be about elevating environmental and societal consideration alongside profit as a measure of business success.

Every business operates as a live entity within a wider ecosystem.

For reference, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut model can be a very helpful means of visualising the environmental and societal considerations to consider.

Let’s operate with that mindset and seek progress and action over perceived perfection.

5. Influencing Policy Change

Identify ways to influence policy and/or regulatory frameworks.

This might simply be engaging in politics. Or it could be about holding your workplace accountable. You can do this by asking for updates or understanding what the process will be for providing updates.

Equally, you could write to your MP (in the UK at least) to question, challenge, and propose sustainable improvements.

It’s simply about exerting the control we have over our own actions. This will help us influence some of the “larger” organisms within our ecosystem.

And, if we make sustainability more salient, we can start to embed it as a normative consideration.

Final thoughts

These 5 measures address many of the key barriers to sustainability engagement.

And, not only are they actionable for us individually, but they also move things forward at societal and systemic levels. Provided we recognise that effective change requires action at all scales.

None of the 5 measures suggested are intended to be big, bold or radical. They’re intentionally easy and clear enough to be incorporated into our lives without much friction.

As noted, frequency of action trumps size of initiative.

By providing education, systemic support, convenient tools, community engagement, and corporate accountability, we can create an environment where sustainable choices become easier, more rewarding, and more impactful.