Can Scottish business avoid eco shame and prosper in a bold new era?

It is difficult to pin the precise moment when human consumerism was finally outed as a serial killer. Covid-19 has been widely attributed to our encroachment into wildlife. Was that it? Or was it David Attenborough’s film of how plastic in the oceans is systematically destroying some of our most beloved sea mammals. For me, the real go- to moment was when Brazilian leader Bolsonaro sent contractors in to destroy huge swathes of the Amazonian rainforest – bringing Covid-19 and death to indigenous populations and removing a vital life source from our planet. This was wanton destruction in the pursuit of naked growth.

We should now talk of climate change deniers as we do flat earthers. Remember they who tweeted that they had ‘members all around the Globe.’

In the UK last year only 6% of people thought primary responsibility for a more ethical, sustainable consumerism lies with consumers themselves – against 51% who thought responsibility lay with businesses (Ipsos MORI, June 2019). Expect that balance to change.

What is clear is this. Business, public service and the third sector must be prepared for that responsibility. if we don’t want to be seen as Greenwashing - the name applied to those who speak of their environmental credentials on one hand and act contrarily on the other. It will be the seen as the equivalent of large-scale tax avoidance.

What an opportunity this presents for Scotland's businesses to get with it and start-ups to get ahead of the game. We are already ambitious in our national targets. But we need speed and a willingness to adapt, collaborate, rest and develop. We should also become a magnet to ethical investment and be trusted as a game-changing delivery partner,

There are more spaces than ever before. Who could have predicted the inexorible rise of genius brand Loop for example. This is a company that enables, consumers to responsibly consume products in specially designed durable, reusable or fully recyclable packaging - these made from materials like alloys, glass and engineered plastics. When a consumer returns the packaging, it is refilled, or the content is reused or recycled through ground-breaking technology. They have already received global recognition.

Ask yourself this. What information, content, or physical product could you turn into an ongoing service that reduces the damaging impacts of your offering, or empowers consumers to make more sustainable choices?

More and more consumers will go with businesses with the courage to break with much of what they know to promote ethical or sustainable consumerism.

Here are four examples of recent brand initiatives. Greenwashing or genuine? You judge.

• Coldplay refuse to tour their new album, Everyday Life, due to environmental concerns. Instead they live stream two 30-minute concerts. A week later the concerts are viewed more than 15 million times. The band then play a gig at London’s Natural History Museum and give their proceeds to an environmental law non-profit.
• Vogue Italia features no photoshoots, commissioning instead eight artists to create illustrated covers depicting models wearing outfits from fashion house Gucci. The move was to highlight the environmental impact of fashion photoshoots and the air travel often required. The money saved was donated to the restoration of the flood-damaged Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice.
• In January IKEA began construction on a new seven-storey store in Vienna with no car park. Shoppers are asked to arrive on foot or by public transport. Large items are then sent to people’s homes from a nearby logistics centre. This store will also feature a rooftop park open to the public at all times and home to over 160 trees
• KLM — Airline encourages passengers to fly less. The Fly Responsibly campaign, launched by the airline asked passengers to reconsider whether they needed to fly. They produced a video asked travellers to travel light, and to offset flight-related CO2 emissions. KLM then announced it would replace one of its five daily flights between Brussels and Amsterdam with seats on a high-speed rail service. This is a partnership with train operator Thalys and NS Dutch Railways.

Brands bold and willing enough to take a hit on part of their core business will rewrite history and can prosper as a result. Transparency is key. If you err, you will join a list of greenwashing offenders and no-one wants to be there. With my local and international colleagues at Global Initiatives and Solutions Ltd, I want to help Scotland to accelerate its adaption to this new opportunity through its existing businesses and public and third sector organisations. We also want to catalyse the development of new businesses – especially encouraging those that don’t fall into the usual suspects category. This is a massive opportunity to be grasped.