Is there any one left, I wonder, who doesn’t stifle a sigh when they hear about a company claiming that it is trying to save the planet?
The unfortunate fact is that climate responsibility has been inflated through overuse into meaninglessness. To be clear, this is in no way to undermine their efforts or to suggest that work by companies to save the planet should be stopped. It is simply to say that it is completely human to get bored of hearing the same thing over-and-over again. We know we shouldn’t yawn when we hear of such important work. But we do. So, the question is: how to make it fresh again?
One initial way might be to stop all the virtue signaling. It is an undeniable fact that once companies realised they could attach a load of sales and marketing activities to being perceived as ‘green’, they all got green. Usage by companies of phrases such a ‘climate responsible’ and ‘social responsibility’ over the last 15 years has grown exponentially. Some of these companies did some amazing work. Many just used it to sell more stuff. Most did some light climate work in order to look good. Boosting manufacturing and consumption while claiming to be climate responsible and doing next to nothing is a particular form of hypocrisy and it is no wonder people stopped listening.
Another way might be to simply ban corporate offsetting. Emitting as much as you like and then asking people to feel good about it because you planted trees to cancel out your emissions is the climate equivalent of deposit insurance guarantees in the banking system. Bankers, safe in the knowledge that the consequences of their risky decisions would be covered by an insurance scheme, just made riskier and riskier bets in order to boost their bonuses. Similarly, companies, safe in the knowledge that they can make things in any way they like and then just plant trees, will maximise their profitability by doing nothing to reform their manufacturing facilities or supply chains. Offsetting is little more than a get out of jail free card.
One possible pathway to changing this might be to frankly acknowledge that businesses exist in order make profits and that any company that forgets this can kiss goodbye any notion of sustainability for the simple reason that it will go bust and cease to exist. Profitability seems to have become some sort of awkward and embarrassing side product of environmental campaigning in the minds of some companies. Instead, profitability should be given the premium placing it deserves. A profitable company is a company that can afford to try and save the planet.
There should be a new exactitude when it comes to companies’ environmental initiatives. It should form part of their financial reporting to trace exactly how planet saving work affects the bottom line. Companies should be brave enough to fess up and admit that their primary motive in saving the planet is to engage their customers or clients in a more meaningful way in order to sell more things or services. They should provide a calculation that shows a revised sales forecast based upon the marketing and sales potential of the initiative. If no such connection can be made, then a company has absolutely no business doing it.
There is also plentiful evidence to show that climate activities are excellent margin drivers. People are happy to pay more for things that come with green credentials. Companies should provide visibility in their accounts of how much they expect margins to be expanded by being perceived to be greener.
Companies should also impose a discipline of radical empiricism. This is a polite way of saying that they can no longer just say climate friendly things without providing a number that backs it up. Every climate claim must carry a numerical proof point. Hard numerical targets should be compulsory, and all ‘aspirations’ and ‘aims’ banned.
Lastly, there need to be consequences for failure. If saving the planet was as central to a company’s operations as most CEOs claim, they would be prepared to resign if they were not met. Any CEO that provided a profitability forecast that was missed could expect some heat. The same heat should greet any CEO who can’t make the climate numbers.
So, here is short is a to do list for CEOs. Admit that saving the planet is a way to boost profits. Show by how much. Prove how products or services can be sold for higher prices as a result. Don’t make any claims without a supporting number. And put jobs on the line for failure.
Do this and people will stop yawning when they hear of a company’s next plan to save the planet.
