Brands leading the way to a more sustainable future

To celebrate Earth Day, we’re looking at some of the sustainable actions brands are taking in a bid to save the planet.

More shoppers are beginning to prioritise environmental impact, and we can see how this reflected through purchasing trends, especially since the global pandemic.

In 2020, research from Deloitte found that consumers were adopting a raft of different measures to shop and live more sustainably. It found that 43% of consumers were actively choosing brands based on their environmental values, with 34% selecting them based on their ethical credentials. Deloitte re-ran the survey again in 2021 and saw that many of the same trends had accelerated, showing how the pandemic has propelled sustainability into the spotlight even more.

However, as more brands choose to take the eco-friendly route and label themselves as so, it’s not always easy to identify the ones that are genuinely doing good and the ones that are simply jumping on the green marketing trend – something that Deloitte found to be a troublesome factor for many consumers when choosing brands.

While every one of us has a part to play in protecting the environment, the responsibility certainly falls heavily on the shoulders of brands. Companies like Apple, Dell, Amazon and Google have already made pledges to reduce their carbon footprints and invest in other sustainability initiatives, with many others following suit. And, when it comes to the smaller-scale consumer product companies, the research shows that this approach makes a big difference when it comes to brand loyalty. Here are some of the ones that have caught our eye:

Most Wanted Wines

Launched in 2015, Most Wanted Wines had one goal: to get everyone enjoying the world’s most wanted wines.

It was the first UK brand to launch canned wine and is now leading the market with its range of still and sparkling alcoholic beverages. Due to cans being one of the most easily recycled materials, this is a great sustainability initiative. They’re also significantly lighter than glass, resulting in reduced fuel usage during transportation.

We’ve loved working with this brand in the past, helping it to reconnect with customers post-lockdown last year during its ‘On the Run’ campaign across UK seaside and urban beach locations.

Affinity Water

As the largest water-only supplier in the UK, Affinity Water understands it has a big role to play in sustainability reductions. This is vital as it serves a growing population of 3.6 million customers in areas that the UK Government has reported as being under serious water stress.

To help with this, it’s committed to reduce the amount of water it takes from the environment by 78 million litres per day by 2025. In doing so, it aims to protect the six rare chalk stream habitats found within the company’s area.

Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat believes that there is a better way to feed the planet, and it wants to do this by shifting from animal meat to plant-based meat in a bid to address four growing global issues: human health, climate change, constraints on natural resources, and animal welfare.

Animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions, with 65% of those emissions coming from beef and dairy cattle alone. In comparison, Beyond Meat’s famous Impossible Burger uses 96% less land, 87% less water, and 89% less greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the past few years, the brand has brought its products to consumers attending UK events such as Brew London, SailGP and Balance Festival, with Elevate staff there to help spread an important message, acting as the face and voice of Beyond Meat.

MINI

While electric cars and economical driving may be some of the first things that come to mind when thinking about sustainability in the car industry, it starts way before that. As a BMW Group brand, MINI looks to attain maximum sustainability with its raw materials and manufacturing plants.

As part of the brand’s sustainability strategy, it focuses on four key principles:

Reducing CO2 emissions
A secure and transparent supply chain
A resource-conserving circular economy
Rethinking urban mobility

MINI shows a clear acknowledgement of sustainability as expressed in its continuous reduction of its CO2 footprint. And, by 2013, BMW Group is planning a per-vehicle reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 40% compared with 2019.

Ellipsis

To help tackle the world’s ever-growing garbage problem, UK-based Ellipsis Earth is using technology to identify, map and track litter across various environments.

With the help of drones and surveys, Ellipsis can track high-problem areas across beauty spots and cities that can be used to inform solutions. For example, it can track plastic pollution on beaches, and cigarette littering in cities that lead to mass clean-up operations and wider education campaigns.

Elevate has welcomed the opportunity to support Ellipsis in its mission toward making the earth a cleaner place. We recently brought together a team of ambassadors in the UK and France to identify high-volume litter areas in cities that would help municipals know where to place more bins.

Are you a brand that wants to make a difference? As the world’s only truly global staffing partner, Elevate is taking steps to tackle the wider issues around climate change and social injustice. To learn more about how we’re doing that as a company, check out our social and environmental action plan. If you would like to speak to us about how we can support your next campaign, please contact your local Elevate office.

Most Wanted Wines

Affinity Water

Beyond Meat

MINI

Ellipsis

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