Major corporations leading the global markets are aware of social issues regarding their businesses and increasing consumer consumption patterns. The established consumerism leads to fast resource depletion, ineffective energy management, and increased poverty. Considering that such companies affect the market’s perception of environmental hazards, their role in balancing emphasis on social, economic, and environmental needs is enormous. Apart from increasing their profits, the investigated companies ease socio-environmental issues.
As sustainability practices cover social problems and increase the company’s target audience, most companies choose an environmental focus to make products safer for people. They start sustainability practices by establishing corporate social responsibility due to new strategies prioritizing environmental issues. For example, L’Oreal Group (2023) created the “L’Oreal for the Future” program, prioritizing carbon neutrality by utilizing renewable energy. The company focuses on minimizing greenhouse gases, decreasing its volume by 87% while increasing production by 37% in two decades. Most companies choose strategies aligned with their businesses.
Meanwhile, Starbucks, which also prioritizes eliminating its carbon footprint, chooses another approach based on its business. It allows customers to have personal reusable packages and cups, thus, minimizing the material utilized (Starbucks, 2022). Dixie (2023) chooses a similar perspective by producing plates with 80% renewable plant materials and growing trees. These measures prove that the companies incorporate strategies to address air pollution, increased plastic waste, and the greenhouse effect.
Some people associate sustainability practices with business risks, believing that choosing safer options results in financial losses. This deduction is based on the premise that to restore 2,984 acres of mined land and convert it into wildlife habitat, Peabody (2019) needed financial investments. Moreover, companies might lose customer loyalty due to increased prices for the more environmentally friendly alternative, experiencing the need to create new branding according to sustainability needs. However, corporations meet a more excellent pool of customers due to cost optimization and greater innovativeness in 93% of all cases (Molla et al., 2019). Therefore, financial benefits justify establishing sustainable practices and being worthwhile from a business perspective.
To conclude, sustainability practices are helpful for the planet and the corporation, and its customers, ensuring the company’s long-term survival and adaptation to the current problems. Since companies frequently deteriorate environmental and social problems while promoting their products, they are responsible for resolving these issues promptly. Thus, companies focusing on greenhouse emissions, plastic recycling, and land restoration gain a competitive advantage in this resource-constraint world.
References
Dixie. (2023). Sustainability starts at the source. Web.
L’Oreal Group. (2023). L’Oréal for the Future, our sustainability commitments for 2030. Web.
Molla, M. S., Ibrahim, Y. B., & Ishak, Z. B. (2019). Corporate sustainability practices: A review on the measurements, relevant problems and a proposition. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 19(1), 1–8. Web.
Peabody. (2019). Our environmental approach. Web.
Starbucks. (2022). Starbucks innovates, tests, and learns from store partners to achive waste goals. Web.