Friday 5: Earthshot, Floods, Wage Gap, Rules, Channel 4
Giles Gibbons
Good Business - Sustainability | Strategy | Impact
November 10, 2023
1. Roll out the green carpet
Earlier this week, the winners of this year’s The Earthshot Prize were announced in a star-studded ceremony in Singapore. Inspired by President Kennedy’s “Moonshot” challenge in the 1960s to land a man on the moon within a decade, the Earthshot Prize recognises that change is not yet happening fast enough and is designed to accelerate progress to address the most pressing environmental challenges facing the planet. With five Earthshot goals – Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate – its mission is to inspire and support ambitious efforts that can help repair the Earth and make it a more sustainable and resilient place for current and future generations.
Awarding £1 million to the winners in each category, the awards bring vital funding and recognition to projects, individuals and organisations dedicated to addressing these critical issues. Last year, we were delighted to see our friends at Notpla win the award in the ‘Build a Waste-Free World’ category. Winning the prize allowed Notpla to scale operations, expanding its industrial production and commercial partnerships to cater to increasing demand for its packaging solutions. Beyond the initial cash injection, Notpla is using the momentum from its win to generate investment to support the introduction of new innovative product lines, and using Earthshot prize branding to build confidence from business and consumers in their products.
The finalists and winners at this year’s awards represent a diverse array of projects, from breakthrough technologies to grassroots community efforts. One of the winners that caught our eye was Boomitra, winning in the Fix Our Climate category. Working to expand the adoption of regenerative agriculture and improve the lives of farmers, Boomitra is a carbon-credits marketplace that rewards farmers for sustainable land management practices. The marketplace incentivises soil restoration by giving the revenue from the sale of verified carbon credits for the emissions that are removed through this practice back to the farmers. With its win at this year's awards, Boomitra is hoping to scale this solution globally, aiming to store one gigaton of carbon by 2030.
The Earthshot Prize embodies the belief that positive change is possible when visionaries, scientists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders come together to make a difference. And by offering substantial financial support and a platform for these game-changing ideas, the prize encourages others to join the movement towards a more sustainable and resilient world.
Find out more about all this year's nominees and winners here, and tune in to watch the awards ceremony on BBC One this Sunday.
2. Climate ready, set, go!
Avid readers of Friday 5 may have a touch of déjà vu, but stay with us, as we build on last week’s shout out to Aviva’s Climate Readiness Index ! For those who need a reminder, this is an index assessing climate change adaptation and mitigation of G7 countries and Ireland. Last week we discussed the UK’s stagnating progress in our climate adaptation journey, and today we wanted to highlight a great example overseas of adaptation in Hoboken, a flood-prone area in New Jersey.
Hoboken is built on a flood plain, which was under threat from rising sea levels. In fact, in 2012 Hurricane Sandy left Hoboken under water and without electricity for days, with $110 million of property damage and weeks of clear up. Fast forward to this September, where a storm dropped 3.5 inches of water on a single Friday morning, coinciding with high tide and causing concern among officials who declared a state of emergency. Across the river, Brooklyn saw subway lines closed and thigh deep water on the streets. So what was the story in Hoboken? Six cars towed, a few inches of water by the evening on three of 277 intersections and all sorted within a day - not too bad overall!
So how did they do it? Rather than trying to block the rain with impermeable infrastructures, they rebuilt sewage systems adding capacity to prevent overflow and built parks to collect and slow water (as well as adding to the city’s social appeal!) In fact, the new 5-acre ResilienCity park containing playgrounds and fields collected 1.4 million gallons of water during the September storm. A great example of climate adaptation linked with social good – but is it financially practical? Well, a study by Ramboll and Rebuild by Design suggest that every dollar invested in flood adaptation infrastructure returns $2 in avoided losses.
So what does this mean? We know that the UK has failed to make meaningful progress on our Climate Ready Index score. Given that flood risk is worsening, maybe it's time to take a leaf out of Hoboken’s book and be proactive in our adaptation strategy – if that means getting some more parks and playgrounds, everyone’s happy!
3. The sustainability wage gap
A recent article in the Financial Times highlighted research from European academics that uncovered a compelling phenomenon: smart, skilled employees are more likely to accept lower wages for work they think is meaningful.
Research found that employees at environmentally friendly firms earned between 9 and 15% less than those doing the same job in oil companies, mining companies, or other less sustainable businesses. In fact, in a study of nine countries, two-thirds of workers were found to be more likely to take jobs with environmentally and socially conscious organisations than other organisations. This disparity is consistent across sectors and has widened since 2001, becoming known as the ‘sustainability wage gap’.
The concept of the wage gap carries a slew of negative associations, which can mistakenly suggest that the responsibility for pursuing meaningful work falls squarely on individuals with sustainable intentions. Research also showed that employees in sustainable sectors worked longer, more extreme hours, often working 50-to-60-hour weeks. We recommend looking at this from a different angle, considering the extra wages as a premium that companies must pay for attracting talent to an environmentally or socially harmful job. It’s almost always more expensive to hire new people than it is to retain existing staff, so it’s possible (although the survey doesn’t explore this) that a large part of the wage premium comes from disillusioned staff going elsewhere when they find themselves engaged in work that doesn’t align with their values.
In an era when both businesses and governments alike are backtracking on their ESG commitments, this research underscores the persistent appetite from the best workers for engaging in purpose-driven, sustainability-oriented work. If you fail to do provide this to them, you may miss out on attracting and retaining top-tier talent.
4. Golden Rules to avoid greenwashing
There is no denying it, companies are navigating a more complex landscape when it comes to integrating sustainability into brand marketing. Customers (and journalists) will sniff out the truth, no matter how much organic and biodegradable green glitter is sprinkled over it.
Increasingly, anxiety of public backlash is holding companies back from sustainability commitments, or shying away from talking about what they are doing (also known as ‘greenhushing’).
We don’t think this is the right response. If companies and brands don’t communicate the positive steps they are taking and the impact they are having – particularly on areas which align with their purpose and reason for being – then it’s impossible for customers to factor this into their decision making. Of course the claims they make have to be significant, transparent and easy to substantiate. But in a world crying out for transformative change, we absolutely think those that have something solid to say (even if it’s the communication of a thoughtful, credible target and a plan to achieve it) should use the powers of communication and creativity to make it known.
So we’re always pleased when others wade into this debate, and even more so what they provide the how as well as the why. Enter our friends at Ubuntoo, who recently shared their ‘5 Golden Rules’, which we think are good food for thought along the way.
First BE, then DO, and only then, SAY. Take it step by step. You can’t jump to saying you’re sustainable before you’ve been sustainable and done sustainable actions.
Don't claim credit for cleaning up your act. If you want to turn efforts to remedy your environmental damage into a shiny new marketing campaign, think again. Stakeholders will see through the smoke and mirrors covering up fundamental flaws in what you do.
Consumers will not pay you to be more sustainable. There are some eco-warriors who might splurge on a product labelled sustainable. But the majority are looking for a cheaper alternative with real product value, such as being durable, unbreakable, or reuseable.
Sustainability is a differentiator, not a motivator. Whilst eco-credentials can catch consumers attention, it will not seal the deal. They want products that fit their lives and cater to their physical and emotional needs, so don’t lose sight of your core offering.
Form, function, and value first, planet next. If you want loyal customers, don’t sacrifice form, function, and value at the eco-altar. Providing worthwhile value is crucial to stop your product being an inferior green gimmick.
5. 'Carbon skid marks'
A new advert on Channel 4 has been turning heads this week – depicting the business and political elite in a new light: in their ‘carbon skid marked’ underpants. We’ll let the video show you what this looks like.
Why, you may wonder? It’s to advertise the channel’s new season of climate programming, comprising The Big Climate Fight, Chicken vs Beef: The Big Switch, The Great Climate Scandal and Chris Packham: Is it Time to Break the Law?
But, as Channel 4 describes, it’s also to make a point. The channel’s purpose is to ‘create change through entertainment’ and it’s known for living this by tackling issues head-on. The recent advert is testament to that, which the creatives behind it accurately describe as an ‘unignorable visual for an unignorable subject’ and is intended to make audiences ask, ‘are those with power doing enough to combat the climate crisis?’.
It’s certainly a direct challenge and particularly commendable given the recent grappling between the Tories and Channel 4, on the topic of climate change and generally. And in a year that is almost certainly going to be the warmest in 125,000 years, with profits for fossil fuel companies soaring recently, and the UK Government rolling back on green pledges and pressing on with opening the first UK coal mine in 30 years, it feels like a fair challenge too.
Whatever you think of the advert – genius or repulsive – it’s inspiring to see such a direct and creative call for action, and we’ll look forward to the programmes reaching our screens soon.
