Sustainability is an opportunity, a matter of survival, an enabler of customer stickiness, and an integral part of business risk. Environmental sustainability is ushering in a green market revolution, with huge government investments. Forrester defines and tracks environmental sustainability trends covering technology, climate risk, marketing activities (including greenwashing), supply chain emission reductions, and professional services. We are pleased to present Forrester’s first-ever Environmental Sustainability Forecast Report, highlighting some of the most impactful changes we expect to see in the coming months.
Below is a preview of some of Forrester’s 2023 predictions for sustainability.
- Carbon offsets and credits are back in fashion, but less fraud. Carbon offsets have been criticized as an excuse for companies to avoid actual carbon reduction activities. Questionable practices and flawed reliance on offset strategies have attracted a great deal of attention to the offset market, even by governments. will set standards for transparency and lead the way in serving the market.
- Five Fortune Global 200 companies announce policies to limit travel for sustainability. Pre-pandemic demand for air travel has outpaced decarbonization efforts, but COVID-19 restrictions have reduced business travel by nearly 54%. Now that business travel is resuming, not all businesses are back to business as usual, and some are using the resumption to track business travel emissions data to reduce their existing travel practices. is being re-evaluated. As public companies prepare for SEC scrutiny and impose fines for misrepresentations and omissions, their sustainability goals are firmly anchored in corporate policies aimed at promoting environmentally sustainable behavior. I understand.
- One criterion claims primacy for increasing the transparency of carbon reporting. New carbon accounting standards that make the most of existing standards will emerge from recognized international bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization and public-private partnerships such as United Nations agencies. The standard applies across industries and geographies to clarify areas of ambiguity in scope 3 reporting, such as remote work emissions data, ushering in a new era of transparency. This new framework not only provides reliable scope 1, 2, and 3 information to investors, shareholders, and customers, but also enables organizations to qualify for credit and loans.
For more information on these and other trends, see Forrester’s Sustainability hub.
This post was written by Senior Analyst Abhijit Sunil. here.