Toolkit 2024: Sustainability is coming home

Environmentally conscious brands concerned about greenwashing accusations can pivot from big-picture global activations to more local, community-based sustainability initiatives to build credible consumer trust, according to findings in the Marketer's Toolkit 2024. 

WARC members can read the full report here. If you’re not yet a member, you can find a sample of the report here.

Why sustainability matters

Sustainability could potentially become a new dimension of brand trust, driving differentiation and amplifying growth. The key to that, however, is for marketers to help reorient their businesses towards “systemic thinking”, seeing themselves as stewards of a brand within an ecosystem where consumers are as much stakeholders as potential customers. 

What’s happening 

• Nearly a third (29%) of marketers in WARC’s survey are working towards measurable sustainability objectives in conjunction with recognised external standards.
• Sustainability marketing is becoming interconnected with other functions as marketers focus on sustainable innovation, supply chain distribution, packaging and manufacturing.
• Marketers are also doubling down on changing what they solely control – namely investing in local communities, advertising production and media decarbonisation.

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