We’ve heard the calls for sustainability in business for years, and today, this matte couldn’t be more important. The earth’s surface and core began to change as a result of decades of harmful waste and exploitation. The calls to protect our world have never been louder; it’s not enough to be eco-friendly; as a business owner, you must maintain sustainability in each step of your business work.

What does this mean? Our businesses going green statistics shed light on consumer awareness of the effect businesses have on the environment, demand for more sustainability measures, how going green will pay off, all the way to the possible challenges facing businesses going green.

Key Terms

• Sustainability: The ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  
• Greenwashing: A deceptive marketing practice that portrays a company’s products or services as environmentally friendly when they are not.
• Greenhushing: The practice of companies not fully disclosing their sustainability efforts or environmental impact.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: The Demand for Sustainability

Countries worldwide are suffering from the consequences of climate change, and the recent wildfires in Greece are a painful reminder of the scorching heat searing our planet. Consumer awareness is at an all-time high, and they’re buying nothing that would continue to harm Earth and adversely affect their life.

1. Despite the rising cost of living in 2022, consumers increased their purchases of sustainable goods by 93%.
2. Products labelled as “sustainable” circulated 2.7 times faster in the market.
3. Thirty-four per cent of consumers became loyal customers of businesses that offer sustainable products. Only 27% of customers were loyal to businesses that don’t offer sustainable products.
4. Consumers who track a company’s green foot, or environmental record, when deciding whether or not to buy from reached 77%. At the same time, 18% of consumers take this information into consideration before recommending any products to others.
5. Between 2016 and 2021, there was a 71% increase in Google searches related to sustainable business products.  
6. Businesses are marketing more than 48% of new products as sustainable, which means businesses started to increase their environmental record.
7. Twenty-six per cent of consumers state they will buy sustainable products and follow through with their claim, out of a total of 65% of consumers who said they’d buy sustainable products.
8. Eighty-three per cent of consumers believe that businesses need to invest more in producing multi-use and recyclable products.
9. More than half of consumers are willing to pay more for multi-use and recyclable products.
10. Seventy-eight per cent of consumers believe that sustainability measures have a direct effect on their life and longevity.
11. Fifty-seven per cent of consumers demonstrated their willingness to change their habits to have a better impact on the environment.
12. Sixty-three per cent of Americans expressed their hope that businesses would lead the way into a more sustainable future.
13. Fifty-five per cent of Americans believe businesses need more decisive measures on pressing environmental, social and political measures.
14. Sixty-four per cent of UK consumers in 2021 shifted from single-use plastic to multi-use or replaced it with glass and wood.
15. In 2021, 40% of UK consumers shifted their focus to businesses with more solid sustainability measures.
16. The global market size of green technology in 2020 reached $11.2 billion and is expected to reach $36.6 billion by 2025.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: Do Businesses Care about Sustainability?

World leaders have held one climate summit after another in an attempt to persuade mega corporations and startups alike to adopt more sustainable measures. Outside the conference rooms, how many companies are following these sustainable measures in real life?

1. Ninety per cent of business leaders believe in the cause to “Go Green”, but only 60% of them implement sustainability measures.
2. Sustainable material such as lower-gas-emitting products are finding their way to 67% of producers.
3. Sixty-six per cent of businesses are working to increase the environmental record.
4. Fifty-seven per cent of companies began replacing their machinery and technologies with climate-friendly ones.
5. Fifty-seven per cent of businesses provided their employees with proper training in the implementation of sustainability measures and how they affect climate change.
6. Emissions decreased by 10% in the past decade due to the hard work of companies to achieve zero emissions.
7. Air travel is likely to receive 55% less use after the pandemic, to decrease emissions.
8. Forty-nine per cent of producers are working on sustainable products.
9. More businesses, 46%, are demanding their suppliers follow specific criteria of sustainability measures.
10. Eighty per cent of 850 businesses stated they planned to increase their sustainability measures.
11. Forty per cent of businesses began to look beyond the supply chain and take sustainability measures into consideration when handling political donations.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: How Going Green is Good for Business

Going green isn’t up for debate anymore; it’s a matter of the survival of our kind on this earth. This undebatable truth will help your business survive alongside humankind, hopefully!

1. Compared to non-sustainable business startups, your sustainable business startup has twice the survival outlook.
2. You can increase profits by 60% if you employ zero and, or low-waste policies.
3. Fifty-six per cent of employees stated they preferred to stay in the company if it employs sustainable measures.
4. Eighty-nine per cent of the market’s highest-performing companies are those with a stellar environmental record.
5. When calculating capital cost, 90% of ESG studies proved that companies with a high ESG record have a low capital cost. ESG studies stand for Environmental, Social and Governance Factors.
6. Sustainable products can be sold time after time since they are environmentally friendly and contribute to the sustainability of the planet.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: Greenwashing as a Marketing Scam

Going green has two adversaries; greenwashing and greenhushing. Greenwashing is when companies allege their products are sustainable, but they aren’t. Greenhushing is when companies don’t fully disclose their sustainability measures.

1. The European Union conducted a market survey to find that nearly 42% of products marketed as sustainable were either false or deceptive.
2. Eighty-eight per cent of consumers double-check before purchasing the products of any company that alleges its products are sustainable.
3. If you’re employing a greenwashing or greenhushing scam online, hence deceiving consumers, 30% of millennials are likely to unfollow you.
4. When millennials look for potential products, 90% of them state that authenticity is their top priority when it comes to employing sustainability measures.
5. If your business is suspected of misleading consumers and hence lacks transparency in its sustainability measures, 40% of consumers would refrain from recommending your products to others.
6. If there are environmental claims against your business in the market, 17% of people will attempt to dissuade others from buying your products.
7. Fifty-five per cent of consumers demand further explanation of sustainability measures; they won’t merely trust your labelling of the product as “sustainable”.
8. In the UK, you could pay about 10% of your annual turnover as a fine for misleading consumers online about sustainability measures, including greenwashing.
9. Sixty-seven per cent of businesses achieved a net zero reduction target, except that 23% of them didn’t announce their achievements.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: Why Everyone Must Pitch In

Businesses around the world cannot continue following the same productive measures as they did in the past, not when they’re continuously harming our planet. This is the time to join the call to action and begin implementing sustainability measures.

1. Mega European corporations cannot be the only ones working to maintain sustainability; the size of these corporations and the rate at which they’re currently working, only 9% of them will have achieved their sustainability goals by 2050. This small percentage is a stark comparison to the 30% of mega-corporations that have committed in the first place. Smaller corporations need to pitch in and join the race.
2. If your business produces products and aims at implementing sustainability measures and increasing your environmental record, you must deal with suppliers who share the same goals as you. Eighty per cent of greenhouse emissions come from your suppliers.
3. Fashion, packaging and consumer goods are the main contributors to producing more than 400 million tons of plastic waste every year.
4. Our households are responsible for their fair share of carbon emissions, 60%, which increases the need for sustainable alternatives to many households’ consumable items.
5. If your website receives more than 100,000 views a month, you are responsible for emitting more than 2,000 kilograms of CO2 every year.
6. Fifty-seven per cent of startups are environmentally focused and are determined to positively impact our world and people’s lives.
7. The increasing demand for energy, products and consumables has raised global greenhouse emissions by 50% since 1993.
8. According to the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, businesses are expected to achieve 60% of the total goal by 2030.
9. Ninety-five per cent of plastic packaging is single-use only, which costs $120 billion in losses every year.
10. Plastic pollution joined overfishing in threatening two-thirds of Earth’s marine life.
11. Earth lost 68% of its natural inhabitants, of birds, fish, animals, reptiles and more, during the last half century due to the overuse of natural resources and inefficient productive measures.
12. Since 2000, the world lost a yearly mass of 5 million hectares.
13. Industrial production of many consumables such as wood, paper, soybean and beef is responsible for three-quarters of worldwide deforestation.
14. Seventy-two per cent of businesses believe climate change can affect their business.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: Sustainable Finance

The future is Green, and even though the rates at which our planet is recovering are lower than desirable, businesses and individuals must persevere to create a more sustainable future.

1. In a survey in 2021, 74% of investors stated they intended to choose businesses with high sustainability performance to invest in.
2. Sixty-seven per cent of business school students stated they wanted their future jobs to incorporate environmental sustainability. Eighty-eight per cent of these students exhibited an interest in learning about urgent environmental problems.
3. Around 40% of employees revealed they chose their current business on the basis of its environmental sustainability performance.
4. Over a third of employees stated that their employer’s sustainability goals encouraged them to put more time and effort into their jobs.
5. Eighty-three per cent of the UK’s employees admitted they felt their employers weren’t committed to realising sustainability measures.
6. Sixty-three per cent of employees declared their intention to learn more about the climate crisis worldwide and environmental sustainability to increase their job potential.

Sustainability in Various Industries

• Technology: The tech industry plays a crucial role in sustainability. Companies are developing energy-efficient devices, renewable energy solutions, and smart technologies to reduce environmental impact.
• Fashion: The fashion industry is facing increasing scrutiny due to its environmental footprint. Sustainable fashion practices include using eco-friendly materials, reducing waste, and improving labor conditions.
• Manufacturing: Manufacturers are adopting sustainable practices such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, and responsible sourcing of materials.

Challenges and Solutions

Businesses often encounter challenges in adopting sustainable practices, including:

• Cost: Implementing sustainable measures can require upfront investments.
• Lack of knowledge: Businesses may need to acquire new skills or knowledge to adopt sustainable practices.
• Supply chain issues: Ensuring that suppliers adhere to sustainable standards can be difficult.
• Consumer demand: The market may not always support sustainable products or services.

Potential solutions to these challenges include:

• Government incentives: Tax breaks, subsidies, and regulations can encourage businesses to adopt sustainable practices.
• Partnerships and collaborations: Collaborating with other businesses, NGOs, or academic institutions can provide resources and expertise.
• Innovation: Investing in research and development can lead to new sustainable technologies and processes.
• Consumer education: Raising awareness among consumers about the benefits of sustainable products and services.

Ethical Considerations

Unsustainable practices can have significant ethical implications, including:

• Environmental damage: Harmful waste and pollution can harm ecosystems and human health.
• Social injustice: Exploitative labor practices and unfair treatment of workers can occur in unsustainable supply chains.
• Intergenerational equity: Unsustainable practices can compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Businesses Going Green Statistics: Future Challenges

In the real world there are many challenges to implementing further sustainability measures. These challenges that businesses face represent a stumbling block in the road to a more sustainable future.

1.    Resources are Running Out

The main resources businesses need to become green are time and money, and businesses don’t think they have sufficient amounts of either. This couldn’t be far from the truth, and you needn’t become green in one night; you can take small steps that suit the current size of your business and build up on that in the future. Using solar panels, for example, as expensive as they may be, will cut costs further down the road and save those resources for other operations.

2.    Uninformed Personnel

Your business must work as a single unit in implementing sustainability measures. This means that both the managing level and employees must be aware of your sustainability plan and goals to reach; they might have many useful ideas to share. Additionally, when the single unit believes in the same goal, everyone in it will work harder to achieve this ultimate goal.

3.    Are the Measures Working?

It’s difficult to move forward in the business world when you don’t know if the measures you’re implementing are working. You can easily identify this by looking at the product or service you sell. For example, if you produce office supplies, you can inquire about the sustainability measures your suppliers are implementing, and you can choose to buy and deal with suppliers who implement green methods into their process. After your product hits the market and you compare the costs with the revenue, make sure you’ve marketed your product and business well as being environmentally sustainable.

4.    Lack of Focus

If you’re trying to implement more green measures while attempting to focus on making a profit, you might get lost. You can try to limit your costs if you can’t find a possible way to make a profit with the implementation of sustainable measures. In the long run, profit will follow. Putting a marketing strategy in place will also help you refocus.

The time is still right to make the shift and choose to go green; the future is green, so you might as well join in!