Not only are the leading climate change organisations pushing ahead on 2030 goals in 2021, there is also mounting pressure coming from our customers. With consumers being bombarded with messages about how critical the planetary threats are becoming, there is increased public attention on these areas and consumer alliances are lying with those who are doing the most.
David Attenborough, whose new film “A Life on Our Planet” documents the dangers posed by climate change and the extinction of species, is leading a campaign by conservation groups for the world to invest $500 billion a year to halt the destruction of nature, saying the future of the planet was in “grave jeopardy”.
As an industry, we need to talk to the consumers that buy our products and listen carefully to the research done by the wider agencies that map the behaviours of the different generations. It is very clear that consumers of all ages are becoming increasingly concerned about all of the environmental issues facing our planet, but particularly over plastic pollution and the climate crisis. On top of this, the awareness of the impact of their diets on their health is also driving decisions on the proteins they choose and how they are consumed.
The younger generations are more intuitively aware of how the food they eat affects the planet and will make more efforts to change their diets if they are confident it will make a difference.
Other currents of influence include the call on consumers to influence the investors that are holding their pensions, to make their money matter. Richard Curtis is a leader of that movement having helped lead some major campaigns to drive out poverty and address climate change. His presentation in the WEF Green Horizon Summit forum in September 2020 on ‘Make My Money Matter’ is worth watching, as are the other speakers that follow him.
The financial industries have taken on board climate change as a financial risk and are expanding their scrutiny of companies and investment strategies accordingly. The Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) continues to gain traction with institutions globally. The UK Government was one of the first to endorse the TCFD's recommendations and has made reporting mandatory with a roadmap setting out the pathway to 2025.
The narrative on climate has moved from the already challenging ‘transition risk’ and associated costs to a broader ‘just transition’ as social elements are factored in.