Environmental sustainability aims to avoid the exhaustion of natural resources in hopes of maintaining an ecological balance and preventing climate change.
According to the United Nations, the global “material footprint” increased by 70% between 2000 and 2017. Plastic bottles and bags were big contributors for this increase. 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, while 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are thrown away each year. In addition, electronic waste continues to proliferate due to incorrect disposal. In 2019 each person generated about 7.3kg of e-waste, but only 1.7kg (23%) of that waste was recycled.
Waste, however, isn’t the only concern when it comes to environmental sustainability. Rising surface and water temperature is a very pressing issue that is causing more natural disasters, extinction of species, and wildfires. With current rates of CO2 emissions, it is estimated that near-surface temperature will rise by 1.5 Celsius in the next 20 years.
In the light of these environmental changes, businesses need to implement sustainable business models to prevent climate change. One study found that while 90% of executives think sustainability is important, only 60% of companies incorporate sustainability into their strategy. And while brands are aware of the competitive advantage of being a sustainable business, only 24% act on this knowledge.
Environmental sustainability efforts can positively affect business’ image and revenue. It is not only important and ethical to follow UN standards of environmental sustainability, but it is also economical and allows a stronger business model. In addition, sustainable companies are more attractive to employees, shareholders and consumers who are becoming increasingly invested in environmental sustainability.
This report looks at environmental sustainability as well as its subsets: climate change, plastics & packaging and deforestation & reforestation as these are important pillars of the overall sustainability conversation. Within the report, we have identified a sample list of influential voices and brand employees that are raising awareness on the aforementioned topics online. Moreover, we have taken an in-depth look to see which tech companies are being talked about within the environmental sustainability community to get a sense of which brands have the biggest share of voice when it comes to sustainability topics.
This report aims to achieve three main things: 1. Highlight environmental sustainability experts and brand advocates that are doing stellar work towards raising awareness. 2. Identify which of the analyzed brands are talking about environmental sustainability the most, and how they are perceived within the community when it comes to sustainability topics. 3. Encourage brands to be more vocal about sustainability issues, and for them to take real steps towards becoming an environmentally friendly brand.
Shifting Perception
Online brand perception is something that every brand needs to be paying attention to, particularly when it comes to such important and relevant topics around Environmental Sustainability. Potential job applicants and customers are increasingly paying attention to a brand’s contribution to the greater good.
The most important factor for brands to consider when it comes to shifting their perception on Environmental Sustainability, is of course pushing for real notable changes internally to a brand’s mission, strategy, and policies. Without real change, we cannot expect to see changes in perception.
Social media is a great listening tool for brands to benchmark their own perception when it comes to Environmental Sustainability compared to their peers, particularly when you hone in on the specific topical communities and the influential voices at the forefront of the conversations. It is these influential voices that can speak with credibility based off their own personal experience, their passion and their experience in leading change.
Brands can connect and collaborate with these voices to tap into their experience and expertise to make the key changes to their policies, but to also raise awareness of their key initiatives as a way to fast track their perception change online.
It is for this reason that we have analyzed the selected tech brands’ attention among these communities, to highlight where brands can improve and the influential voices that can help them get there
Brand share of voice across all sustainability topics in a 90 day period
What’s in the Report?
The Environmental Sustainability report is split into 4 main sections:
- Environmental Sustainability
- Climate Change
- Plastics & Packaging
- Deforestation & Reforestation
Within each section we have highlighted the following:
- An overview of topic mentions, size online
- Twitter topic mentions & size online
- LinkedIn community size
- Top influential voices
- Top employees
- Top employee network map and interactions
- Top tech brands
- Brand share of voice
- Network maps showing interactions between influencers, brands and employees
