How do sustainability efforts affect branding? Can better business practices enhance the public perception of your brand?
Since the establishment of the United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goals, private and public entities began claiming to have gone green. This resulted in sustainability efforts being launched left and right. However, the green revolution started out as a gimmick for brands to ride on, like all good trends. But eventually, this wave bore actual developments such as the evolution of waste management as more than just waste collection service, the increased awareness and use of sustainable materials, as well as highlight the importance of renewable energy.
In marketing, brands are given a set standard of principles to make up its personality. Brand personification is considered an effective way to establish rapport with its customers by allowing people to see brands as more than just a product. Brands express these personality traits through snarky social media posts and often times, weird, attention-grabbing ads. Some, express it in less bombastic terms such as through corporate social responsibility projects, reviewing and changing the materials they use to become more eco-friendly, and introducing healthier or more sustainable variants of their products.
Sustainability is more than just a trait. It is a discipline, a principle, which one must always keep in order to be effective. Some brands simply stick the word on the packaging of their products while others began reinventing themselves. More and more brands are popping up with the promise of a more sustainable alternative to their well-established counterparts. Big brands began to notice them and have caught up by starting with themselves first.
How? Through logistics.
Sustainability Efforts’ Large Impact on the World
Sustainable efforts through product innovation is rampant in the private sector, from eco-friendly shoes to zero, if not near, vehicles. But according to a study by the United States Energy Information Administration, the global production sector consumes 54% of the world’s energy sources. While consumers may be more concerned by their individual carbon footprint, the manufacturing industry significantly affects the global carbon footprint. Thus, the implementation of green manufacturing has become widely practiced all over the world. While more of a guideline than a strict set of practices, green manufacturing effectively cuts the emissions of the industry.
Green Manufacturing
The Japanese car company Honda, reduced its own emissions by 60% from its North American manufacturing operations. This was done through the development of recyclable products, the use of alternative energy, and efficient but sustainable logistics processes. To support this, the company established the Honda Environmental Leadership Program. The program helped dealerships reduce their energy and water usage. Additionally, it helped achieve electrical grid neutrality status with solar panels. This, along with launch and continued innovation of hybrid and zero-emission vehicular units, made the company one of the more sustainable car manufacturers in the world.
In a smart move, Honda has tied everything together and placed it under the unifying banner of the Green Path campaign. While indiscernible which came first, tying its efforts together allowed the brand to revel in the fruits of their labor. Honda’s Green Path campaign proves that with a little planning, sustainability or other socially responsible initiatives can help build your brand for the better.
Green Building
While it may be difficult to become strictly green on factories, other types of buildings are another matter entirely.
Based on the 2021 series of reports by the European Commission, construction contributes to an estimated third of global waste. Additionally, it creates 40% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, the construction industry uses almost 35% of global energy1. This has been a longstanding concern that resulted in the establishment of Green Building Certification Systems or GBCSs such as LEED with the first one being BREAAM.
Green building refers to both the structure, and the process of constructing spaces in an environmentally responsible and resource efficient way. This goes throughout a structure’s lifecycle: from the conceptual stages of planning and designing, its development in construction, maturity with maintenance, and decline with renovation and/or demolition.
Private entities and public sectors around the world are investing heavily in green building, and they all ask the same question: Why stop with construction?
Green Operations
Green operations2 span the day-to-day business activity that focuses on cost-efficient and productivity to make less impact and support sustainability. This includes the expenditure of energy and resources and waste management.
While these two things may seem small at a glance, their impact is certainly the opposite. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report from 2018, the building sector represents one-third of energy related carbon emissions. As the 2000s ended, the presence of green operations increased.
Sustainable Efforts: More Than a Trend
OMRAN’s The Sustainable City – Yiti, built by Diamond Developers, is an example that features all three green practices. Its residential and commercial spaces have adapted energy efficient home design. The masterplan’s spaces used eco-friendly materials, and green design and construction methods to reflect its name well, surpassing requirements set by major building standards.
Aspiring to become Oman’s first net-zero-emissions community by 2040, The Sustainable City – Yiti is powered by solar and biogas energies. In addition, it aims to achieve 100% water recycling and waste diversion from landfills, while being 80% self-sufficient in food.
The Green Vision Consultants Waste Management Team took charge of the project’s entire waste management plans. The team was responsible for designing the operational waste management systems including collection from sources, up to the final processing, recycling, or disposal of waste. To fulfill this, the GVC team calculated the predicted waste generation rate in order to determine the sizes and locations of waste facilities, plan collection routes, and vehicle requirements which vary per area. In addition to these, the team was also involved in the development of the biogas plant and recycling facility in a technical advisory capacity.
As with construction, the public and private sectors the world over began implementing green practices in their current spaces. Now with the growing world of waste management and sustainability experts, sustainability efforts evolved more than just a gimmick.
Does Sustainability Affect Public Perception of Your Branding?
The sustainability method may seem less exciting but is more than effective. A 2001 study has shown that a company’s social responsibility initiatives provide a positive effect towards customer perceptions on brands. This, in turn, improves customers’ intent to purchase from brands. A 2019 study further proves that a brand’s socially-conscious actions inspire consumer value, satisfaction, and loyalty.
Companies have always been held at a higher standard. In today’s world, this is especially true, with Millennials and Gen-Z owning a significant percentage of consumers and will eventually be the main drivers of every market.
Companies big and small have catered to the latest trends and gimmicks. But with sustainability presenting an ever-present issue that requires a longer time to solve, long-term solutions and permanent changes are becoming the standard for commitments. It takes more than just placing plants in a small patch of ground.
And really, what could be more noble a commitment than making the world more livable?
Create Sustainable Spaces with Green Vision Consultants
Adhering to green practices is one thing, but making sure that built spaces and the structures in them are made sustainably down to its foundation is an enormous leap towards making the world better. At Green Vision Consultants, multi-disciplinary experts specializing in wayfinding and signage, waste management, and sustainability and the environment help create green spaces for all.
Are you planning on building your own green space? Connect with the experts at Green Vision Consultants today!
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