Sustainability Indeed Is About Societal Value Proposition, Collaboration & Data

Holocene is a period of 10,000 years that saw a stable temperature with a +1 or -1 degree centigrade variance, helping human civilization grow and expand. During this period, as humans, we observed predictable climate patterns enabling us to grow and harvest 7-10 different crops simultaneously in other parts of the world. As we progressed, we expanded our growth, leading to deforestation, disturbing the biodiversity, contaminating our planet, pushing towards, sorry I correct myself, and at the tipping point—Anthropocene, where humans are now impacting the climate change.

The question is not on, what your goals are around sustainability, but how and what are you actioning today to reach 2030 / 2050 targets. Interestingly it isn’t easy as we look and aim for it. While businesses, technology companies, government & world environment bodies are working toward an equilibrium balance between cost, preferences, and production, our preference as an individual to contribute. So, how ready are we collectively to work on making this world a better place to live? 

Gartner, two years back, pointed on a societal value proposition, which focused on building a business out of improving our digital society. For the time being, keeping the word digital separate still makes such a big difference in every consumer’s life. The symbiotic relationship between what the brand and consumer enjoys, it is possible with awareness and education to draw the delicate balance towards sustainable consumption leading to a world being a better place to live.

Our consumption patterns have predominantly been influenced by brand campaigns and value propositions associated with the product offerings. As consumers, we adapt ourselves to any such changes in the past; many companies are now investing, experimenting, and adapting to sustainability most responsibly. In contrast, it is not the masses but those who are significantly large in terms of presence, market share, voice, and brand. What's noticeable in a small way is that these brands now enable their ecosystem to be part of sustainability.

Nike is stepping towards a zero-carbon economy, where it aims to reduce 60% of greenhouse gases by 2030 at owned, operated, and 30% across their extended supply chain. They have committed to using low carbon materials, decarbonizing the supply chain, and 100% renewables. 

Tata Steel is piloting technology around manufacturing steel at a commercial scale to reduce emissions by 80%. As the demand continues to grow globally for steel, the trend would add that much more carbon dioxide to our environment. 

The Body Shop has provisions for container collection from its customers to reuse for future usage. Colgate last year introduced vegan toothpaste in a reusable tube that allows people to squeeze out all the toothpaste comfortably, protects the integrity of the product, and meets the demands of high-speed production.

Fortunately and unfortunately, these innovations, inventions, and discoveries all come at a high cost, running in billions of dollars. In some cases, sustainability initiative is helping to drive new business models. In my quest for writing, I came across one such business model called Loop. It partners with leading FMCG companies with its reusable packaging. This partnership entails the supply chain in delivering to the customer in a branded Loop Tote and manages the collection of the used one.

The article hyperlinked on the ‘Loop’ details the challenges and strikes a balance with opportunity. Why can’t subscription-based offering in the space of FMCG be planned with the reusable container model? Why can't part of packaging be outsourced towards such initiatives? Thinking aloud is subscription the way to build supply chains for reusable packaging as part of the franchise model. What is going to be important is promoting reuse and recycling rather than disposing of it.

This point brings all of us to an exciting topic of designing a connected and sustainable value chain. Ryan Patel senior fellow & a trend watcher, moderated an interesting panel at Davos early this year with eminent panels. The discussion brought out the following: Use of data to build a connected, resilient system, blockchain to facilitate traceability of the offerings & monetizing the value chain, collaboration across the ecosystem to create a connected supply chain, inclusivity to avoid the digital divide and closing loop on how by-products are being brought back to the food chain.

What left me thinking are the words rebuild and collaboration. Connecting the dots with loop initiative and Davos conversation requires a cohesive, well-collaborated system working hand in hand, clocking every minute from the offering, leaving the manufacture to the consumer to waste segregation to recycling to reuse to manufacture. Each of us has a role to play and what is evident is that no one can shy away from it as brands don’t fade away after use. They will remain in existence based on how & what it will be carried on.

Sustainability is not about thought leadership but a new era of innovation, opportunities, and Eureka moments. Almost 5,000 satellites orbiting the earth, rapidly increasing drone operations, 20 billion scattered sensors are capturing data in real-time, as well as millions of records created by enthusiastic citizens across the world observing environmental data points. With the use of technology, researchers & environmentalists today can decode the data to monitor the changes in the climate, impact on the biosphere, and tipping points.

We need to connect the environmental data back to business. At the same time, we optimize our processes to better the EBITA; similarly, its time EBITA also reflects the impact on climate change. The linkage of the big data of the planet in terms of water quality, soil fertility, air pollutions, deforestation, understanding the global warming of 1.5-degree centigrade, ocean pollutions back into the planning of our product offerings, supply chains, and manufacturing, the process of the rebuild would start.

While researching on this piece, it left me thinking deeply and visualizing the magnanimity of sustainability laying ahead of us. The reforms would play a critical component in the race with scientific rationale. What would help drive the change is sustainability as a discipline at all levels of education systems. As mentioned in the article before, it is one of the most significant opportunities we have ahead of us, and the only word to success is COLLABORATION.