When the coronavirus pandemic first struck, it forced individuals, families and businesses to pause. Many people were spending more time in their homes, and as they did so, it allowed them to pay closer attention to their daily habits, including their environmental impact.
Even before the Covid-19 crisis, a growing number of people across the United States and globally were looking to live a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle. According to the 2020 GlobeScan Healthy & Sustainable Living report, consumer opinion on living more sustainably has intensified since 2019, with nearly three-quarters of survey respondents expressing a desire to reduce their environmental impact compared to 64% the previous year.
There’s a gap, however, between that desire to be greener and actually changing behaviors, the GlobeScan study also found. Many consumers need help making informed decisions and are looking for actions that are simple to take.
Here’s where businesses and brands can assist: by making a commitment to sustainability and partnering with other organizations, corporations can play a significant part in removing these barriers, building a more sustainable future for everyone.
“I think as we entered the pandemic, there was some concern of, ‘Okay, now sustainability is hereby off the agenda for a few years. It’s going to be focused on the immediate health crisis and the economic crisis,’” says Douglas Sabo, chief sustainability officer at Visa, which partnered with GlobeScan on the report. “Instead, I think the great shock that the world has gone through has really given people a moment to hit the pause button, to look at this as an opportunity to reset and build back better in a way that also factors in sustainability.”
No time to waste
When it comes to addressing climate change, there’s no time to hit pause, even during a global pandemic. The GlobeScan report found that after Covid-19, consumers consider the depletion of natural resources and climate change to be the next most serious global issues.
The climate emergency is already creating more extreme weather events that are affecting millions of people worldwide. Take, for example, the destructive wildfires that ravaged the US West Coast this fall as well as the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires.Meanwhile, states along the Gulf Coast of the US have been deluged in recent years by historic storm seasons and devastating 100-year-floods. And in Asia, typhoons and tropical storms are becoming more frequent and more intense.
Urgent action is needed today if we are to prevent the most catastrophic effects of a warming planet, warns the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). That requires taking measures that will decrease greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50% by 2030, and then to net zero by 2050.
For corporations, protecting the planet for future generations involves first looking within and implementing sustainable business practices, says Sabo. “It’s most important to make sure first and foremost that you have your own house in order. For Visa, this means we need to make sure that we have done everything possible to reduce and mitigate any negative environmental impact from those areas of footprint.”
For instance, one initiative saw Visa set an ambitious two-year goal in 2018 to transition to 100% renewable electricity across the company’s global operations, which comprises 131 offices in 76 countries and four global processing centers. In January, the company announced that it had achieved its target. Another pre-pandemic initiative focused on giving employees greener options for business travel, as well as carpooling programs and free electric vehicle charging onsite at many of Visa’s offices for those who commute.
In addition to implementing internal corporate sustainability initiatives, it’s key that a company’s commitment extends outside the business as well, says Sabo. “The way that we are really going to move the needle on sustainability and climate is going to be around the topic of commerce and consumption. We are a company that has a unique vantage point of how the public consumes. And so, we feel a responsibility and an opportunity to help empower and inspire sustainable living in a way that is both good for planet and good for business.”
In order to do that, Sabo says companies must start by understanding the consumer, and that’s where data and studies like the GlobeScan report come in. “What are the barriers to sustainable living for them and what are the drivers? We don’t want to just identify them and keep it to ourselves,” Sabo explains. “There’s a commitment to get these results widely disseminated, to make sure that all the partners – whether it’s those merchants and financial institutions we work with in our own ecosystem or those outside – have awareness and insights into consumer behavior.”
Collaboration for change
For businesses, partnerships such as the one with GlobeScan are imperative to influencing positive behavioral changes in people who just need the extra nudge to lead a more eco-conscious lifestyle, Sabo says. Indeed, he adds, partnerships are critical to achieving the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations, including reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and responsible consumption and production.
It’s one reason why Visa has joined with a number of other brands in the BrandsForGood initiative, a movement that aims to make sustainable living attractive, attainable and rewarding, and to tap into the power of collective brand influence to help do so. Travalyst, an initiative focused on sustainable travel and tourism, similarly shows how different brands can come together for a shared purpose. This collaboration between Visa, Booking.com, Skyscanner, Trip.com Group and Tripadvisor is led by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and aims to arm consumers and businesses with more knowledge around sustainable travel choices.
Of course, day-to-day, one of the most sustainable ways to travel is by public transportation. As the global population increases and more megacities emerge, the availability of public transportation will be crucial to easing congestion and reducing transport emissions, which by 2040, are estimated to make up a third of all global emissions. But while one doesn’t typically picture digital payments as a solution to decreasing emissions or moving the needle on the UN’s SDG of sustainable cities, expanding acceptance of digital payments in transit systems does eliminate some of the challenges people have in using public transportation around ticketing and fares. Visa has partnered with transit agencies in over 300 cities to make it easier to pay fares with options like “tap to pay” at turnstiles and fare gates.
“We can take that piece of friction out and help people shift their mode of transportation to public transit, which typically has a measurably lower footprint than other modes of transportation,” says Sabo.
Stepping up for a more sustainable future
Of course, there are still a variety of challenges that threaten progress toward sustainable development. Some of these obstacles include insufficient funding for local green initiatives; a perennial perception that embracing certain sustainable actions is too difficult; and issues deemed more pressing, such as the global health crisis we continue to face.
But if the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that when we’re forced to hit pause and take stock of our behaviors, we can live more sustainably – and can continue to follow suit even after the coronavirus emergency ends.
As we continue to confront these challenges and navigate Covid-19, it’s clear that it’s going to take all of us – consumers, businesses, NGOs, governments and other stakeholders alike – to follow through on commitments and seek to build back better. Partnerships, and more of them, are vital to this, Sabo reiterates. If we all pitch in, a sustainable future is within our reach.
“There is a growing sense of urgency I see among governments, private sector actors and others to work even harder to double down on our efforts to build an inclusive, equitable and sustainable world,” says Sabo. “While we are a relatively small company in size, we are blessed with this tremendous global brand. That’s a tool we can bring to challenges, whether that’s helping small businesses to grow, helping uplift millions of unbanked and underserved households or work that we can do to inspire and empower sustainable consumption and living.”