5 Charts Showing Not All Hope Is Lost on Climate Change

There’s good reason to feel down about humanity’s future. After all, the Earth keeps getting warmer. Next to no recyclable plastic actually gets recycled. Wanting to avoid accusations of greenwashing, some brands are settling for greenhushing.

A new report from trend forecaster WGSN predicts some consumers, exhausted from the planet’s many problems, will seek relief in nihilism. “It’s not that they have given up caring,” reads a line from the executive summary. “They are simply finding that caring less is an effective coping mechanism.”

However, there are still signs of hope. Major companies are incorporating climate change strategies into their plans, while consumers are buying more sustainable goods.

“It’s not enough to just talk about it anymore,” said MB, executive creative director at brand consulting and design firm Landor & Fitch.

Consider this: In 2018, just under half of all corporations listed on the S&P 500 index mentioned “climate change” at least once in an annual or quarterly report, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. This number has increased each year since. The latest scan of SEC filings reveals that 450 companies, or 90%, acknowledge the phenomenon exists—even if just as a financial risk.

Companies are trying to fix the problem, too.

Earlier this year, for the first time in its 50-year history, personal care brand Tom’s of Maine awarded five young BIPOC environmentalists with $20,000 each, along with mentorship and other resources, to help amplify their projects.

“Each of our winners have already accomplished so much, and we are honored to work with them toward even more impact,” Cristiane Martini, the brand’s general manager, said in a statement.

Many companies are also etching sustainable practices into their policies.

A survey from the World Federation of Advertisers trade association shows 68% of its member organizations have a framework for addressing greenwashing. Around half have plans to encourage sustainable behavior among shoppers and source materials that do less damage to the environment.

Climate change is certainly a topic that’s difficult to ignore.

Data from Getty Images suggests media outlets, advertising agencies and other corporate customers are discussing the issue more now than in the past. Searches for images depicting electric vehicles and extreme heat, for example, increased in 2022 compared to 2021.

At the same time, Getty’s research finds sustainability-related images that educate or illustrate solutions are more persuasive than those presenting a world on fire.

Likewise, MB noted Landor & Fitch is advising clients to avoid doom-and-gloom messaging. Instead, she said, brands should focus on envisioning a positive future where people come together to solve their problems.

“Climate anxiety is real,” said MB. “If you paralyze people with fearmongering, that’s not going to help anybody.”

On the consumer side, shoppers are backing up their concerns about climate change with action.

Last year, consumer-packaged goods marketed as sustainable accounted for 17.3% of all in-store U.S. purchases across the category, excluding alcohol and tobacco, according to research from Randi Kronthal-Sacco, a senior scholar at New York University’s Stern Center for Sustainable Business.

That figure isn’t huge, but it has grown throughout the Covid-19 pandemic—a time when people had plenty of things to worry about other than looking for eco-friendly laundry detergent, which tends to cost more than its conventional counterparts.

The big picture: If companies want to win over more members of the public, they’ll need to find a way to meet the current mood. And they’ll need to make it believable, too, as more than 9 in 10 business executives agree the ability to build and maintain trust improves their organization’s bottom line, according to a recent survey from professional services company PwC.

“Consumers truly want brands that align with their values,” said MB.

At present, less than half of America is satisfied with the nation’s efforts to preserve the environment.

This hasn’t always been the case. A decade ago, 60% of U.S. adults expressed satisfaction on the issue. Perhaps the drop in contentment will lead to more change.

This story is part of Adweek’s The State of Sustainability digital package, which spotlights climate-focused marketing solutions across the beauty, experiential and media spaces, and examines how an industry that was built to drive consumption is adapting to reduce its impact.