3 Reasons Why You Should Implement Sustainable Innovation

With rapid global warming and climate change, sustainability has become a necessity rather than a unique selling point. Consequently, businesses across industries are adopting sustainable innovation. This, of course, is beneficial for the environment and society. However, even from a business perspective, it is profitable. Curious how? Let’s explore together!

3 Ways Sustainable Innovation Works in Your Favor

1. Better Utilization of Resources

The very essence of sustainable innovation is to make sure that resources are not exhausted faster than they are replenished. When you keep this in mind while building your new products or services, you will innovate to utilize the resources to their full potential and use try to make it work with as few resources as possible. Initially, this might seem tricky and you have to invest heavily in R&D. But, that’s what makes the results sustainable in the long run.

Let’s assume you are a manufacturing company. To drive sustainability through your business, you can look for ways to gradually incorporate renewable energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, and so on. Other solutions include finding circular solutions for industrial effluent or carbon capture & emissions reduction solutions. Thus, you contribute your part in preventing the rapid depletion of non-renewable resources while also becoming resilient when the world finally makes the energy transition!

2. Get Your Business Ready for the Future

The world is rapidly moving towards sustainability. If you don’t keep up with change and continue to depend heavily on non-renewable resources, no matter which industry you belong to, you will soon realize that you are behind the race.

On the contrary, if you are an early adopter of sustainable innovation, you will be having the competitive advantage of doing it first or belonging to the top companies driving sustainability. If I ask you to name an electric vehicle (EVs) company, Tesla would be the first to cross your mind. Why is that? Because Tesla started working on EVs at a time when the majority of businesses did not see EVs as the future of automotive.

3. Grow Your Consumer Base

The demand from conscious consumers for sustainable products and companies that work towards fulfilling sustainable development goals continues to increase. Not convinced? Let’s get you some numbers. According to Forbes, 88% of consumers want companies like yours to help them contribute their part towards sustainability. Moreover, Futerra’s survey of over 1 000 consumers in the USA and UK, revealed that 96% of the sample believed that their positive actions, such as recycling or purchasing ethical products make a big difference.

Now, let’s dig deeper into these sustainable purchasing habits. In 2020, Deloitte conducted a study that showed more than two-thirds of the respondents cut down their consumption of single-use plastics. The next popular trend was purchasing products from brands with climate-conscious values, decreasing expenditure on new items, and consuming animal-based products.

So, you can clearly see how adopting sustainable innovation does not conflict with the interests of consumers — with the share of the sustainable shopper only going up.

Now, you tell us — have you already implemented sustainable innovation in your organization? How is it working out for you? Do you think it should be standardized among all companies? Get in touch & share your thoughts!