We’re passionate and curious about all things sustainability, and we enjoy contributing to broader conversations in our industry. 

Fresh thinking

Here, we share our thinking on sectors, sustainability topics, and trends.

Among our publications you’ll find the latest edition of our Little Book — (nearly) everything you always wanted to know about corporate sustainability — alongside sector- or topic-specific reports.

We love collaborating. If you’d like to discuss partnering with us on a publication, please contact us.

Feature publication: Corporate Sustainability in Context

Want to know your bioplastics from your blockchain? Check out the fourth edition of our Little Book: (Nearly) everything you always wanted to know about corporate sustainability.  

The power of the natural wor(l)d

The power of the natural wor(l)d

What is nature?  It’s not a trick question. I’m inviting you to pause for a moment and think about what the word brings to mind. Chances are your head is full of images of wild landscapes or specific creatures. I’ll wager you didn’t put yourself or another human in...

Five tips for sustainability sunshine

Five tips for sustainability sunshine

Working in the field of sustainability, the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges are front and center.  In our day-to-day work we cover increasingly extreme weather phenomena, social injustices, and extinct species, to name a few. Working with...

7 tips to avoid SDG-washing

7 tips to avoid SDG-washing

Businesses have long recognised that they can and should make a meaningful contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And there’s a big prize on offer for solving major economic, environmental and social challenges and delivering on the goals — an...

CSDDD: What you need to know

CSDDD: What you need to know

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is the new kid on the block for many large companies active in the EU: here are the key things you need to know now.   What is CSDDD?  The CSDDD (CS3D) is a new EU human rights and environment due diligence...

The sustainability language barrier no one is talking about

The sustainability language barrier no one is talking about

Language is a powerful — but often overlooked — tool in sustainability. It is how we shape ideas and understand the world around us. It helps us to connect with each other and with nature. By naming the things we value, we demonstrate what is important to us and to...

Why is train travel so expensive? A European perspective. 

Why is train travel so expensive? A European perspective. 

The high cost of train travel gives gas guzzling flights an unfair advantage.  Rail is the most electrified mode of transport in Europe and accounts for less than 1% of EU transport emissions. It’s nearly five times less emissions-intensive than air travel (on...

Food system climate impact, Part 1: Farm

Food system climate impact, Part 1: Farm

Even if we entirely stopped burning fossil fuels today, emissions from our “business as usual” food system would push average global temperature rise over 1.5°C by 2100. However, a recent study projected that we have a chance of staying below the 2°C threshold—and...

10 top tips for your nature positive journey

10 top tips for your nature positive journey

Global wildlife populations have plunged by nearly 70% since 1970. More than 44,000 species are currently threatened with extinction, with 41% of amphibians and 37% of sharks and rays on the brink of collapse. Overdeveloped land and overfishing, exploitation of...

Microplastics, Part 3: Skip the straw, save a turtle

Microplastics, Part 3: Skip the straw, save a turtle

Part three, the last in our series on microplastics, gives us cause for hope. Don’t miss our previous installments covering the basics about microplastic pollution and ways we’re keeping tabs on the problem. If you’ve read our previous blogs about microplastics and...

Why we believe new is ‘better’

Why we believe new is ‘better’

We are replacing the things we buy more quickly than ever before. UK households buy a new mobile phone on average every one to two years. In 2021, we also bought 60% more clothing than 15 years earlier, but kept items for only half as long. Around one in five of us...

Microplastics, Part 2: Keeping tabs, supporting change

Microplastics, Part 2: Keeping tabs, supporting change

In part two of our three-part series on microplastics, we take a look at how we are tracking their spread and efforts to stem the tide. Part one described our current understanding of the problem. Our final installment will look at hopeful solutions. Many...

Microplastics, Part 1: Where our understanding lies

Microplastics, Part 1: Where our understanding lies

Today, we dive into the subject of microplastics in this first of a three-part series taking an initial look at the scientific understanding and extent of the problem. In part two, we’ll cover how plastics are being tracked, and finally, in part three, we’ll describe...

Year in Context

Year in Context

Environmental and social issues have never been far from the headlines over the past 12 months. While they often take a back seat in times of economic or political uncertainty, these issues are returning to the top of the agenda ever more quickly after a crisis,...

Top tips to avoid greenwashing

Top tips to avoid greenwashing

Consumers want to hear how brands are transforming both their products and operations. In fact, 90% of consumers indicate it is important for brands to talk about their sustainability programmes. But the EU has found that over half of current communications are vague,...

Consumers want brands to talk about sustainability… clearly

Consumers want brands to talk about sustainability… clearly

Research shows consumers have little understanding of important sustainability terms and are looking to brands to help them get to grips with environmental issues. But consumer trust is quickly destroyed by the use of vague and imprecise words like ‘green’ and ‘eco...

Is your pension fuelling the climate crisis?

Is your pension fuelling the climate crisis?

Pensions, which are designed to secure our future, may be putting it at risk. These powerful funds — worth more than US$55.7 trillion in global assets and accounting for 69% of GDP across 22 major markets — are quietly funding the climate crisis through major...

Does nature have a place in the boardroom?

Does nature have a place in the boardroom?

Meet the newest member of the board: Pongo pygmaeus. Around a year ago, Eco-Business reported a Malaysian palm oil producer had become the world’s first company to appoint a non-human animal to its board of directors in the form of Aman the orangutan. It was an April...

7 steps to conduct an effective double materiality assessment

7 steps to conduct an effective double materiality assessment

Double materiality sits at the core of the new European sustainability reporting standards. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) affects more than 50,000 companies, requiring them to disclose the impacts, risks and opportunities associated with...

Food extinction

Food extinction

Two-fifths of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction, much of which we rely on to feed us. Varieties of foods we eat every day — like bananas, corn, and coffee — could be wiped out due to the limited genetic diversity of foods. Changing consumer habits,...

Dredging the depths: why we should be cautious of deep sea mining

Dredging the depths: why we should be cautious of deep sea mining

Deep sea mining – the process of extracting minerals from the deep sea floor – has reached a critical turning point. Despite international outcry, Norway has approved future deep sea mining in its territory, becoming one of the first countries to do so. This could...

10 top tips for an effective climate strategy

10 top tips for an effective climate strategy

As the urgency to combat climate change continues to grow, so does the importance of having a robust and credible climate strategy and net zero roadmap. Getting this right is key to the success of your organisation’s wider corporate sustainability strategy. Here are...

The cost of Mongolian cashmere

The cost of Mongolian cashmere

Cashmere, once a rare emblem of luxury, now lines the shelves of the fast fashion giants. Demand for the fabric has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and it’s no surprise. A tenth of the width of human hair and reportedly eight times as warm as sheep wool,...

How did we become so wasteful?

How did we become so wasteful?

Each year, we produce more than 2 billion tonnes of solid municipal waste globally. By 2050, it will be 3.4 billion — far outpacing population growth. At the current rate, we will need three earths to sustain us. Included in this “waste” are valuable resources such as...

How World Building Can Shape a Company’s Future

How World Building Can Shape a Company’s Future

Aisha Shillingford, an artist and strategy consultant from Trinidad and Tobago, asked a room full of suits in New York last month to imagine their “Happy Place.” “Close your eyes,” she whispered. “Think of a place that holds meaning for you. Now, envision it in the...

Why are the EU and UK backtracking on cosmetics animal testing bans?

Why are the EU and UK backtracking on cosmetics animal testing bans?

Countries are banning animal testing for cosmetics, while the UK and EU are backpedalling. This year Brazil, Canada and the US state of Oregon banned the practice — joining 42 other countries and nearly a dozen US states. Meanwhile the EU and UK have started allowing...

Why soil matters 

Why soil matters 

Healthy soil is vital to our planet. It’s key to supporting human health and food security, and to fighting poverty and climate change. In recent years, dirt — a once under-examined area — has risen on sustainability agendas. It’s been rebranded under the terms...

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Dairy companies know they need to be more sustainable. Cattle farming is one of the biggest contributors to global methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. The industry also faces environmental concerns such as soil and biodiversity degradation, as well as issues...

Not-So-Strange Bedfellows: Solid Waste and Climate Change

Not-So-Strange Bedfellows: Solid Waste and Climate Change

For most of us, it’s safe to say that once our trash leaves the curb for the garbage dump, it’s mostly a mystery about what happens next. Not surprisingly, the serious environmental shortcomings of solid waste are also poorly understood, despite the fact that it’s one...

A New Field of Study Attributed to Climate Change

A New Field of Study Attributed to Climate Change

Scores of scientists around the world study all sorts of phenomena related to climate change. Hurricane behavior, coral bleaching, impacts on human health, and jet stream patterns occupy the time of many climate researchers. Emerging from these specialties is a new...

The end of the offset?

The end of the offset?

Carbon offsetting is facing increasing criticism, with calls for corporate offsetting to be scrapped. How should companies respond?  Corporates are using carbon offsets to address their environmental impact against mounting pressure from investors and consumers...

Big Banks, Financing and Climate Change

Big Banks, Financing and Climate Change

Is it any surprise that big banks move a little like the Titanic? Veering away from investments that contribute to climate change has been glacial, even as the regulatory tide swells toward carbon reductions and accountability. Big banks have a considerable stake in...

The dirty environmental paw print of pets

The dirty environmental paw print of pets

People want the best for their pets, but the environmental impact of feeding them is massive and demand for more pets is growing. The world’s more than half a billion domesticated animals (mostly cats and dogs) consume up to a fifth of the world’s meat...

Ocean Heat Content, The Unsung Climate Indicator

Ocean Heat Content, The Unsung Climate Indicator

A broiling summer on Earth has brought about the hottest June and July on record. Greece, Italy, Spain, and Britain have endured extreme temperatures on the heels of 2022 when heat took the lives of more than 61,000 across Europe. Canada has seen a staggering 25...

Will NYC’s Latest Attempt to Force Composting Work?

Will NYC’s Latest Attempt to Force Composting Work?

New Yorkers are under threat from the climate crisis with increasingly hot summers, deteriorating air quality, and natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy.[1] Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is key to tackling the crisis and composting programs can help cities...

The booming sustainable investing landscape lacks best practice

The booming sustainable investing landscape lacks best practice

Sustainable investing — considering ESG factors and/or improving investees’ sustainability performance — is on the rise. Between 2018-2020, sustainable investments in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australasia grew 15% to $35.3 trillion. Companies are increasingly...

Corporations double down on sustainable investing

Corporations double down on sustainable investing

Major corporations are betting heavily on sustainability. Apple just doubled to $400 million its climate fund — one dedicated to saving ecosystems and removing carbon from the air. Earlier this year, BP said it would significantly increase by as much as $8 billion...

What’s the future of faux foods?

What’s the future of faux foods?

Industrial quantities of palm oil substitute are now being made in the lab.  While this is certainly good news for Orangutans and their fast-vanishing forests, are faux products like oils and plant-based meats good for us and nature? What seems good now...

Interview with our European MD for International Women’s Day

Interview with our European MD for International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day we’re celebrating Helen Fisher, our Managing Director at Context Europe. "The worst career advice I ever got was to not take too many risks,” Helen says. Last year, she took the risk to shift from freelancing for Context Europe to become...

Black becomes the new green in the UK countryside

Black becomes the new green in the UK countryside

Large tracts of Britain’s green and pleasant land are being covered in black glass.  These are solar farms providing much-needed clean energy, but is the climate emergency sufficiently severe to industrialise our countryside? Drive through the rolling fields...

Earthshot and more

Earthshot and more

While necessary and inspiring, Prince William’s annual Earthshot prize demonstrates our painfully slow progress at finding technical solutions to our environmental problems.   “The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we...

How UN conventions make a better moisturizer

How UN conventions make a better moisturizer

Photo credit: Thierry Fillieul Your rainforest plant-based miracle moisturizer feeds your skin but also carries cash to the people who protect the trees that provide active ingredients. We can thank a thing called the Nagoya Protocol for making our daily moisturizing...

Greenwashing legislation: vital step or lacking impact? 

Greenwashing legislation: vital step or lacking impact? 

With a rise in sustainability and ESG related language in marketing communications, regulators are cracking down. But will the new greenwashing legislation be effective? In 2021, for the first time, greenwashing was the focus of the European Commission's annual online...

Universal Reporting Standards – Pipe Dream or Panacea?  

Universal Reporting Standards – Pipe Dream or Panacea?  

In recent years, stakeholder demand for environmental, social and governance (ESG) information has increased exponentially. Investors need clear, comprehensive, and comparable information to make informed investment decisions. Customers are paying progressively more...

Celebrating ESG’s Late Arrival

Celebrating ESG’s Late Arrival

Campaigners have been forecasting ESG for decades. Finally, businesses are starting to listen. It was the early 90s and an Asian logging company was preparing an IPO in Hong Kong. I was writing a report for the Financial Times on a campaign to boycott the offering...

Avoiding billionaire dependency

Avoiding billionaire dependency

George Soros is restructuring his sprawling foundation, causing anguish among staff and fundees. The wailing and gnashing of teeth at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations during its painful restructuring is a warning of the perils that face campaign groups who...

Regenerating communities with art and lavender

Regenerating communities with art and lavender

Social entrepreneurs are key to repurposing blighted economies. Secateurs for shovels: lavender offers jobs and hope for former miners in West Virginia.   In Appalachia it’s lavender instead of coal, in Cornwall it’s art instead of china clay.  Oceans apart, two...

What’s trending in fashion sustainability reporting?

What’s trending in fashion sustainability reporting?

As part of my work experience with Context, I learned how one of the world’s biggest fashion companies, H&M Group (a Context client), is reporting on sustainability. I wanted to find out more about how some of its competitors are dealing with sustainability and reporting on their progress. This is a report on my findings.

What’s the fuss about double materiality?

What’s the fuss about double materiality?

I used to think the concept of materiality in sustainability-speak was rather hard to understand until I came across the concept of “double materiality” in the EU proposal for improvements to company reporting.    Is double-materiality significant or merely a...

Towards integrated reporting

Towards integrated reporting

You’re thinking of including more sustainability information in your annual report. Given that universal standards for fully integrated reporting are some way off, what do you do?  It’s a good time to make a start, for three reasons: Integrated reporting will be the...

Can sustainability save the dying fur industry in Europe?

Can sustainability save the dying fur industry in Europe?

Coronavirus has meant a difficult year for Europe’s fur industry, with mass culls and breeding bans. Could this be the beginning of the end for fur production in Europe? In November, six countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US) reported...

Are planetary boundaries a great truth?

Are planetary boundaries a great truth?

We’re taking too much from the earth, pushing the planet beyond its limits.  With our unfettered greed for natural resources and our slovenly despoiling of our environment, we’re digging our own grave. That’s the argument of many in the environmental movement (WWF for...

Four reasons to  burn your unwanted clothes. And four not to.

Four reasons to burn your unwanted clothes. And four not to.

What’s wrong with burning unwanted clothes? Surely this is a quicker route to circularity than trying to unpick and recycle modern, blended fabrics?  Chuck the stuff in an incinerator, capture the energy and make sure you catch the toxic fumes too. Job done? Fashion...

GDP: Going down the pan?

GDP: Going down the pan?

Growth is good, right? It’s what learn from birth. Grow up. Aspire. Make more stuff. Make more money. And since the 1940s, a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has become the universal indicator of growth – a measurement of economic wellbeing that enables nations...

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Does C-19 give you a reason to skip a year in your sustainability reporting? It’s a fair question, given that most companies will be short of resources and looking to save a few pennies. We have a solution that saves money and time. More important, it helps you...

Could Covid spell an unfair end to fair trade?

Could Covid spell an unfair end to fair trade?

Credit: SophieB Resilience is probably not the first word that comes to mind as Dennis Gakuru, Fairtrade officer at Valentine Growers in Kenya, ponders his unsold, wilting roses. A well-known expletive is more probable as he and his fair trade farmers bemoan their...

Longing to be frightened by the old normal

Longing to be frightened by the old normal

The convention centre in Glasgow which was to house the annual climate change negotiations in November is now a coronavirus field hospital. Climate change is off the agenda. Way off, for now.  But while the ravages of Covid-19 will eventually diminish, climate...

Can the Rubber Industry Erase its Supply Chain Issues for Good?

Can the Rubber Industry Erase its Supply Chain Issues for Good?

By 2050 there will be at least twice as many cars on the road, and more cars mean more tyres, and more rubber. Natural rubber is a crucial ingredient in modern tyres (see box). The world’s tyre industry consumes around 70% of the planet’s natural rubber supply –...

Context #Susty Social Media Ranking

Context #Susty Social Media Ranking

Which companies came out on top in the Context #Susty social media ranking? Our ranking reveals how 100 leading companies, with strong sustainability reputations, are using social media, and who is having the most success. Which company... Posts most frequently? Has...

Atoning for the inaction generations past

Atoning for the inaction generations past

Dateline London October 7. Heading for a breakfast meeting, I exit the Tube to walk across St James’s Park with Buckingham Palace to the left and the government office on Whitehall on the right. In front of me is a white-haired couple bent by considerable age and from...

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

Download the report Costa, Starbucks, Illy, Nespresso – there’s a lot of choice when it comes to coffee. But it’s no longer just down to taste. If we continue to drink coffee as predicted, production must double or even triple by 2050. Brands increasingly need to...

Trending Now: Privacy

Trending Now: Privacy

The digital universe Our lives are tangled up in the internet. It’s difficult to go an hour, much less a day, without firing off an email, reading the news, or scrolling through social media. These exchanges are made possible by the “Internet of Things” (IoT) — a...

A quick WRAP up: What a year of plastics action achieved

A quick WRAP up: What a year of plastics action achieved

Recycling locally is in. This week, Malaysia followed China in taking a tougher stance on plastic waste imports – with mislabelled waste sent back to its country of origin. It’s time to think how the UK can create a better system for handling plastic waste. Enter the...

Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.

Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.

“My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things.” Bill Gates Let’s be honest. We are not going to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. That target is a bust. We are already two thirds of the way towards 1.5 degrees, having reached one...

How Hush Puppies could save us from extinction

How Hush Puppies could save us from extinction

A few days ago Victor Vescovo, a pony-tailed Texas investor and former naval officer, dived about 11km to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific – the deepest a person has ever gone. While peering out of his titanium submersible at the moon-like vista he saw...

Sustainability Reporting, the Smart Way

Sustainability Reporting, the Smart Way

Today, Sonos published their Fiscal Year 2018 Sustainability Report. It has everything you would expect a tech company to cover, from product design to inclusion and diversity to supply chain responsibility. But what makes this report different? It’s only 25 pages....

How to avoid another Great Dying

How to avoid another Great Dying

Nature – and the importance of biodiversity to the health of business – is set to ascend the global agenda. This is because concerned groups – environmental and business – are gearing up to raise awareness of the important deliberations about the future of the UN’s Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), in Beijing in 2020.

Toad&Co Bares All For Sustainable Fashion

Toad&Co Bares All For Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable apparel was a key topic during this year's London Fashion Week, and for good reason. The apparel industry knows their current status quo — the one that made them the fourth largest polluter of air and water, and responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas...

Deforestation: New Guidelines to Strengthen Company Commitments

Deforestation: New Guidelines to Strengthen Company Commitments

Alongside Ariana Grande and Brexit, you might’ve noticed forests making headlines in early 2019. France adopted its National Strategy to Combat Imported Deforestation, Germany released an Action Plan for sustainable, deforestation-free cocoa, and the European...

#Susty Social Media Ranking

#Susty Social Media Ranking

There are 2.5 billion social media users globally.[1] As a result, companies made social platforms key to their marketing strategy — but who is taking advantage of the mass audience reach for sustainability? That’s the question we set out to answer in our Susty Social...

Farm footprint calculators: Do they make a difference?

Farm footprint calculators: Do they make a difference?

Better data enables better decisions. This is especially true in agriculture, where farmers care about preserving soil health and access to water for future years. Tools exist to collect data to inform decision-making. But do they help farmers protect the environment?...

Packaging: “We just haven’t got a clue what to do”

Packaging: “We just haven’t got a clue what to do”

SustainPack, the Barcelona packaging sustainability conference, left me in no doubt that the packaging industry is in crisis – and in the words of glam-rock legends The Sweet, “we just haven’t got a clue what to do”. The industry, especially the plastic sector is...

(Plastic) Ties that Bind

(Plastic) Ties that Bind

Was it the jaunty plastic straw rammed up the nostril of a sea turtle?  Or maybe the sea horse clinging to a used cotton bud?  Or that Coke bottle inside the gut of an emaciated, very dead orca? Visually speaking, single-use plastics are experiencing an animus...

Reporting Fatigue

Reporting Fatigue

Unwieldy is the word I would use to describe the current state of sustainability disclosures. While it’s true that transparency is essential for progress, too many metrics make it harder, not easier, to understand a company’s performance. Especially when those...

Corporate Action on Sustainable Development Goals

Corporate Action on Sustainable Development Goals

No doubt, you’ve heard of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 17 ambitious targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and usher society into a peaceful and prosperous future. The goals, such as SDG2 “Zero Hunger” and SDG4 “Quality Education” remind us...

Why marketers should avoid inventing social movements

Why marketers should avoid inventing social movements

Can marketers manufacture social movements without creating a #FingerDownTheThroatMoment? Tapping into social movements: Kendall Jenner offers a drink to police in an ill-fated  Pepsi ad linked to Black Lives Matter.   It seems not, but this has not prevented...

Twitter: Audience Expansion for Sustainability Communications

Twitter: Audience Expansion for Sustainability Communications

Your sustainability program is firing on all cylinders. You’ve got goals, you’re making progress, and you’re providing value to your business. After publishing your annual sustainability report you think – we’ve done it, people will finally know what we’ve been up to!...

Employee Activism — The New Force in CR

Employee Activism — The New Force in CR

For years CR professionals have argued that ‘employee recruitment and retention’ is part of the business case for companies becoming more ethical and sustainable. HR surveys regularly confirmed that people prefer to work for responsible companies — a rising trend...

Let’s get digital: Expanding your sustainability reporting audience

Let’s get digital: Expanding your sustainability reporting audience

The first sustainability report we wrote was for Unilever in 1997. Over the last 20 years, the content, audience, and mode of reporting has evolved. It’s no longer about lengthy, printed disclosures geared toward regulatory agencies — it’s about short storytelling to...

My journey through plastics

My journey through plastics

Isobel Roser, Context Intern, investigates the hot topic of 2018: plastics. The tide of popular opinion has officially turned against plastic. This onetime miracle material is now firmly in the public’s bad books, largely prompted by David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet...

Experian unlocks the power of data

Experian unlocks the power of data

Experian’s purpose is to create a better tomorrow by unlocking the power of data to transform lives. Its latest Corporate Responsibility Report shows how the company, best known for its credit services, is fulfilling that purpose. Using its extensive data and...

BT sets out progress in delivering its purpose

BT sets out progress in delivering its purpose

BT’s latest Delivering our Purpose Report finds a welcome balance between ticking the boxes for sustainability experts and offering a clear, compelling narrative for other audiences. It provides an update on progress towards 2020 goals to promote a connected society,...

SIG Combibloc goes Way Beyond Good

SIG Combibloc goes Way Beyond Good

Context client SIG Combibloc has launched an ambitious new strategy to go Way Beyond Good by contributing more to the environment and society than it takes out. One of the world’s leading providers of food and beverage carton packaging, SIG has set the bar high by...

Microfibers: small but significant

Microfibers: small but significant

Outdoor season is upon us but in a cruel twist, the clothes we wear are having a major impact on the places we love. Microfibers, often invisible to the naked eye, are highly damaging to the environment, polluting waterways and filling our food chain with toxins. So,...

Efficient supply chains demand engaging communications

Efficient supply chains demand engaging communications

A red telephone was once standard in the offices of nuclear world leaders, to be used to prevent accidental global destruction. Rather less glamorous procurement departments of large companies had the same, especially those dealing with foodstuffs from faraway places....

Sustainable Development Goals: The New Corporate Holy Grail?‬‬

Sustainable Development Goals: The New Corporate Holy Grail?‬‬

End poverty and hunger. Educate every child. Promote decent work for all. Utopian? Yes. Impossible? No. At least not according to some of the world's leading companies and best-known brands. Somewhat surprisingly, given the lofty ambitions involved, they are embracing...

A company’s guide to sustainable investing

A company’s guide to sustainable investing

In Part 1 of this blog series – Sustainable investing is on the up and up – we discussed how sustainable investing is going mainstream. In November 2016, US SIF reported that one-fifth of all professionally managed assets consider environmental, social, and governance...

Sustainable investing is on the up and up

Sustainable investing is on the up and up

Source: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment - Sustainable and Impact Investing in the United States Overview Sustainable investing isn't just for do-gooders. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we explore the growth of sustainable investing and discuss...

Why Trump is good for corporate sustainability

Why Trump is good for corporate sustainability

Photo: Nakashi - Flickr   Massive upheaval in US politics may seem seismic for the sustainability of corporate sustainability. But, fear not. We are merely experiencing the aftershocks of the really big societal changes that happened a generation ago when...

Hurrah Alert! Fox in the GRI henhouse!

Hurrah Alert! Fox in the GRI henhouse!

Global Reporting Initiative CEO, Tim Mohin. Source: GRI Who said this?   “In essence, when we measure too much, we can lose the signal in the noise. One good example of this is the Global Reporting Initiative…   … reporting on a dizzying array of topics can...

How a boy can keep a sustainable smile in 2017

How a boy can keep a sustainable smile in 2017

Habitat loss, elephant loss, rhino loss, fish loss, water loss, air quality loss, climate denier elected president… How is a boy supposed to keep smiling in 2017?  Cease that wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here are nine positive thoughts to help you escape the sturm...

Myron Ebell:Scott Pruitt – Same difference?

Myron Ebell:Scott Pruitt – Same difference?

As a sustainability professional, the thought of Myron Ebell leading the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seemed like a nightmare. We even wrote about it, here.   So last month, when Trump was faltering on his bold statement that climate change is a...

CVS Health’s sustainability report is just what the doctor ordered

CVS Health’s sustainability report is just what the doctor ordered

 Photo by Mike Mozart Walk into one of the 9,600 CVS Health emporiums around the U.S. and you’ll find almost anything you could need. Snacks, greeting cards, household goods, cosmetics and, of course, drugs dispensed by white-coated pharmacists in the back. But unlike...

Five tips for a successful corporate sustainability career

Five tips for a successful corporate sustainability career

When I started in the field of sustainability in 1992, it wasn’t even called that. It was an eccentric career choice, marginal to business, limited in scope and prospects. Twenty-five years later, sustainability is an industry in its own right, offering a multitude of...

Why I #OptOutside

Why I #OptOutside

Jana takes in the scenery in Prescott, Arizona’s Granite Dells #nofilter Long walks on the beach. Fresh mountain air. Fall leaves crunching under my boots. Yes, the clichés all apply, but opting outside is about more than just the perfect #nofilter shot on Instagram....

Telling the story of climate change

Telling the story of climate change

Photo: Noemí Jiménez Our Associate Ashley delves into the age old question: what makes sustainability communication effective and engaging? At Context, we know that progress on sustainability doesn’t happen by accident – it requires critical analysis, detailed...

The Real Migrant Crisis

The Real Migrant Crisis

Photo: Flickr - Shever The effects of climate change are felt by millions today, and experts believe refugee crises around the world will worsen in step with the symptoms of a warming planet. It appears as if human conflict, like the civil war in Syria, is the driver...

Cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation

May a white model wear dreadlocks? Is a white male novelist allowed to tell his story through a black female character? Am I permitted to wear a sombrero and say Olé!? The answer is a firm no, unless you want the politically correct (PC) trolls on your back.  Welcome...

Report review: Anheuser-Busch & SABMiller

Report review: Anheuser-Busch & SABMiller

Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev, the world’s largest brewer, is taking over SABMiller, the world’s second biggest. What does this mean for their respective sustainability programmes? A scan of their latest reports offers some clues. The first comes in the titles. SABMiller...

Mitigating aviation industry emissions: are offsets enough?

Mitigating aviation industry emissions: are offsets enough?

There’s no denying that the aviation industry is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Now, they’re stepping up to curb their emissions through an international carbon offset agreement. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN...

How to make artificial intelligence cute

How to make artificial intelligence cute

Toyota is planning to sell a little robot that behaves like a young child and looks like a cross between a mutant ninja turtle and a short-sighted toddler. So cute! The $400 palm-sized Kirobo Mini is bright enough to learn casual conversations - “are we there yet?” -...

Target Report Review: Target’s year of hits and misses

Target Report Review: Target’s year of hits and misses

The US big-box retailer meets goals on US employee wellbeing but could do much better on human rights in the global supply chain New shoes? Back to school supplies? A new toaster? Cut-price celebrity designer dress? Chances are you can find what you’re looking for at...

Look good, feel good

Look good, feel good

Despite the controversial supply chain issues plaguing the apparel industry, clothes aren’t a commodity we can boycott completely - like a vegetarian giving up meat. But we, as consumers, can make a statement with our  wardrobes  by  ditching the bad brands and...

Pricing Climate Risk

Pricing Climate Risk

Photo: Flickr - Chris Potter In a new report published last week, Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, called for investors to factor climate change into decision making. In the report, Blackrock firmly states that climate risk has long been underappreciated...

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

Photo: Robert Claypool -Flickr Monday is Labor Day in the U.S. – a holiday formally inaugurated in 1894 to pay tribute to the American labor movement. While today it marks the end of summer and an excuse for one last barbecue, it’s also a valuable reminder that there...

Apple CEO misses the point and the opportunity

Apple CEO misses the point and the opportunity

Apple CEO Tim Cook is missing the opportunity to enhance the brand and establish his reputation as a visionary. “Maddening and comes from a political place” was Apple CEO Tim Cook’s response today, to the EU ruling that Apple has illegally avoided $14bn in taxes...

To assure or not to assure, that’s the CR question.

To assure or not to assure, that’s the CR question.

10 things you need to know about third-party assurance and deciding whether or not your company should get its corporate responsibility report assured. It’s that time of year again. While we’re still feeling the summer heat, vacations are winding down and corporate...

PepsiCo asks big questions with #HowWillWe

PepsiCo asks big questions with #HowWillWe

This morning, our client PepsiCo launched a groundbreaking sustainability microsite, #HowWillWe, which provides an interactive and immersive experience to explore and share ideas about issues relevant to the world and PepsiCo’s business.

Saving the world with big data

Saving the world with big data

The United Nations says that “Big Data represents a new, renewable natural resource with the potential to revolutionise sustainable development and humanitarian practice.”

Integrated Reporting

Integrated Reporting

There is great excitement about the push to get companies to include sustainability indicators in their business and financial reporting.

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement

In our highly connected world, where you can so easily befriend and be friended, why are companies so socially isolated?

The power of the natural wor(l)d

The power of the natural wor(l)d

What is nature?  It’s not a trick question. I’m inviting you to pause for a moment and think about what the word brings to mind. Chances are your head is full of images of wild landscapes or specific creatures. I’ll wager you didn’t put yourself or another human in...

Five tips for sustainability sunshine

Five tips for sustainability sunshine

Working in the field of sustainability, the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges are front and center.  In our day-to-day work we cover increasingly extreme weather phenomena, social injustices, and extinct species, to name a few. Working with...

7 tips to avoid SDG-washing

7 tips to avoid SDG-washing

Businesses have long recognised that they can and should make a meaningful contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And there’s a big prize on offer for solving major economic, environmental and social challenges and delivering on the goals — an...

CSDDD: What you need to know

CSDDD: What you need to know

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is the new kid on the block for many large companies active in the EU: here are the key things you need to know now.   What is CSDDD?  The CSDDD (CS3D) is a new EU human rights and environment due diligence...

The sustainability language barrier no one is talking about

The sustainability language barrier no one is talking about

Language is a powerful — but often overlooked — tool in sustainability. It is how we shape ideas and understand the world around us. It helps us to connect with each other and with nature. By naming the things we value, we demonstrate what is important to us and to...

Why is train travel so expensive? A European perspective. 

Why is train travel so expensive? A European perspective. 

The high cost of train travel gives gas guzzling flights an unfair advantage.  Rail is the most electrified mode of transport in Europe and accounts for less than 1% of EU transport emissions. It’s nearly five times less emissions-intensive than air travel (on...

Food system climate impact, Part 1: Farm

Food system climate impact, Part 1: Farm

Even if we entirely stopped burning fossil fuels today, emissions from our “business as usual” food system would push average global temperature rise over 1.5°C by 2100. However, a recent study projected that we have a chance of staying below the 2°C threshold—and...

10 top tips for your nature positive journey

10 top tips for your nature positive journey

Global wildlife populations have plunged by nearly 70% since 1970. More than 44,000 species are currently threatened with extinction, with 41% of amphibians and 37% of sharks and rays on the brink of collapse. Overdeveloped land and overfishing, exploitation of...

Microplastics, Part 3: Skip the straw, save a turtle

Microplastics, Part 3: Skip the straw, save a turtle

Part three, the last in our series on microplastics, gives us cause for hope. Don’t miss our previous installments covering the basics about microplastic pollution and ways we’re keeping tabs on the problem. If you’ve read our previous blogs about microplastics and...

Why we believe new is ‘better’

Why we believe new is ‘better’

We are replacing the things we buy more quickly than ever before. UK households buy a new mobile phone on average every one to two years. In 2021, we also bought 60% more clothing than 15 years earlier, but kept items for only half as long. Around one in five of us...

Microplastics, Part 2: Keeping tabs, supporting change

Microplastics, Part 2: Keeping tabs, supporting change

In part two of our three-part series on microplastics, we take a look at how we are tracking their spread and efforts to stem the tide. Part one described our current understanding of the problem. Our final installment will look at hopeful solutions. Many...

Microplastics, Part 1: Where our understanding lies

Microplastics, Part 1: Where our understanding lies

Today, we dive into the subject of microplastics in this first of a three-part series taking an initial look at the scientific understanding and extent of the problem. In part two, we’ll cover how plastics are being tracked, and finally, in part three, we’ll describe...

Year in Context

Year in Context

Environmental and social issues have never been far from the headlines over the past 12 months. While they often take a back seat in times of economic or political uncertainty, these issues are returning to the top of the agenda ever more quickly after a crisis,...

Top tips to avoid greenwashing

Top tips to avoid greenwashing

Consumers want to hear how brands are transforming both their products and operations. In fact, 90% of consumers indicate it is important for brands to talk about their sustainability programmes. But the EU has found that over half of current communications are vague,...

Consumers want brands to talk about sustainability… clearly

Consumers want brands to talk about sustainability… clearly

Research shows consumers have little understanding of important sustainability terms and are looking to brands to help them get to grips with environmental issues. But consumer trust is quickly destroyed by the use of vague and imprecise words like ‘green’ and ‘eco...

Is your pension fuelling the climate crisis?

Is your pension fuelling the climate crisis?

Pensions, which are designed to secure our future, may be putting it at risk. These powerful funds — worth more than US$55.7 trillion in global assets and accounting for 69% of GDP across 22 major markets — are quietly funding the climate crisis through major...

Does nature have a place in the boardroom?

Does nature have a place in the boardroom?

Meet the newest member of the board: Pongo pygmaeus. Around a year ago, Eco-Business reported a Malaysian palm oil producer had become the world’s first company to appoint a non-human animal to its board of directors in the form of Aman the orangutan. It was an April...

7 steps to conduct an effective double materiality assessment

7 steps to conduct an effective double materiality assessment

Double materiality sits at the core of the new European sustainability reporting standards. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) affects more than 50,000 companies, requiring them to disclose the impacts, risks and opportunities associated with...

Food extinction

Food extinction

Two-fifths of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction, much of which we rely on to feed us. Varieties of foods we eat every day — like bananas, corn, and coffee — could be wiped out due to the limited genetic diversity of foods. Changing consumer habits,...

Dredging the depths: why we should be cautious of deep sea mining

Dredging the depths: why we should be cautious of deep sea mining

Deep sea mining – the process of extracting minerals from the deep sea floor – has reached a critical turning point. Despite international outcry, Norway has approved future deep sea mining in its territory, becoming one of the first countries to do so. This could...

10 top tips for an effective climate strategy

10 top tips for an effective climate strategy

As the urgency to combat climate change continues to grow, so does the importance of having a robust and credible climate strategy and net zero roadmap. Getting this right is key to the success of your organisation’s wider corporate sustainability strategy. Here are...

The cost of Mongolian cashmere

The cost of Mongolian cashmere

Cashmere, once a rare emblem of luxury, now lines the shelves of the fast fashion giants. Demand for the fabric has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and it’s no surprise. A tenth of the width of human hair and reportedly eight times as warm as sheep wool,...

How did we become so wasteful?

How did we become so wasteful?

Each year, we produce more than 2 billion tonnes of solid municipal waste globally. By 2050, it will be 3.4 billion — far outpacing population growth. At the current rate, we will need three earths to sustain us. Included in this “waste” are valuable resources such as...

How World Building Can Shape a Company’s Future

How World Building Can Shape a Company’s Future

Aisha Shillingford, an artist and strategy consultant from Trinidad and Tobago, asked a room full of suits in New York last month to imagine their “Happy Place.” “Close your eyes,” she whispered. “Think of a place that holds meaning for you. Now, envision it in the...

Why are the EU and UK backtracking on cosmetics animal testing bans?

Why are the EU and UK backtracking on cosmetics animal testing bans?

Countries are banning animal testing for cosmetics, while the UK and EU are backpedalling. This year Brazil, Canada and the US state of Oregon banned the practice — joining 42 other countries and nearly a dozen US states. Meanwhile the EU and UK have started allowing...

Why soil matters 

Why soil matters 

Healthy soil is vital to our planet. It’s key to supporting human health and food security, and to fighting poverty and climate change. In recent years, dirt — a once under-examined area — has risen on sustainability agendas. It’s been rebranded under the terms...

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Dairy companies know they need to be more sustainable. Cattle farming is one of the biggest contributors to global methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. The industry also faces environmental concerns such as soil and biodiversity degradation, as well as issues...

Not-So-Strange Bedfellows: Solid Waste and Climate Change

Not-So-Strange Bedfellows: Solid Waste and Climate Change

For most of us, it’s safe to say that once our trash leaves the curb for the garbage dump, it’s mostly a mystery about what happens next. Not surprisingly, the serious environmental shortcomings of solid waste are also poorly understood, despite the fact that it’s one...

A New Field of Study Attributed to Climate Change

A New Field of Study Attributed to Climate Change

Scores of scientists around the world study all sorts of phenomena related to climate change. Hurricane behavior, coral bleaching, impacts on human health, and jet stream patterns occupy the time of many climate researchers. Emerging from these specialties is a new...

The end of the offset?

The end of the offset?

Carbon offsetting is facing increasing criticism, with calls for corporate offsetting to be scrapped. How should companies respond?  Corporates are using carbon offsets to address their environmental impact against mounting pressure from investors and consumers...

Big Banks, Financing and Climate Change

Big Banks, Financing and Climate Change

Is it any surprise that big banks move a little like the Titanic? Veering away from investments that contribute to climate change has been glacial, even as the regulatory tide swells toward carbon reductions and accountability. Big banks have a considerable stake in...

The dirty environmental paw print of pets

The dirty environmental paw print of pets

People want the best for their pets, but the environmental impact of feeding them is massive and demand for more pets is growing. The world’s more than half a billion domesticated animals (mostly cats and dogs) consume up to a fifth of the world’s meat...

Ocean Heat Content, The Unsung Climate Indicator

Ocean Heat Content, The Unsung Climate Indicator

A broiling summer on Earth has brought about the hottest June and July on record. Greece, Italy, Spain, and Britain have endured extreme temperatures on the heels of 2022 when heat took the lives of more than 61,000 across Europe. Canada has seen a staggering 25...

Will NYC’s Latest Attempt to Force Composting Work?

Will NYC’s Latest Attempt to Force Composting Work?

New Yorkers are under threat from the climate crisis with increasingly hot summers, deteriorating air quality, and natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy.[1] Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is key to tackling the crisis and composting programs can help cities...

The booming sustainable investing landscape lacks best practice

The booming sustainable investing landscape lacks best practice

Sustainable investing — considering ESG factors and/or improving investees’ sustainability performance — is on the rise. Between 2018-2020, sustainable investments in the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australasia grew 15% to $35.3 trillion. Companies are increasingly...

Corporations double down on sustainable investing

Corporations double down on sustainable investing

Major corporations are betting heavily on sustainability. Apple just doubled to $400 million its climate fund — one dedicated to saving ecosystems and removing carbon from the air. Earlier this year, BP said it would significantly increase by as much as $8 billion...

What’s the future of faux foods?

What’s the future of faux foods?

Industrial quantities of palm oil substitute are now being made in the lab.  While this is certainly good news for Orangutans and their fast-vanishing forests, are faux products like oils and plant-based meats good for us and nature? What seems good now...

Interview with our European MD for International Women’s Day

Interview with our European MD for International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day we’re celebrating Helen Fisher, our Managing Director at Context Europe. "The worst career advice I ever got was to not take too many risks,” Helen says. Last year, she took the risk to shift from freelancing for Context Europe to become...

Black becomes the new green in the UK countryside

Black becomes the new green in the UK countryside

Large tracts of Britain’s green and pleasant land are being covered in black glass.  These are solar farms providing much-needed clean energy, but is the climate emergency sufficiently severe to industrialise our countryside? Drive through the rolling fields...

Earthshot and more

Earthshot and more

While necessary and inspiring, Prince William’s annual Earthshot prize demonstrates our painfully slow progress at finding technical solutions to our environmental problems.   “The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we...

How UN conventions make a better moisturizer

How UN conventions make a better moisturizer

Photo credit: Thierry Fillieul Your rainforest plant-based miracle moisturizer feeds your skin but also carries cash to the people who protect the trees that provide active ingredients. We can thank a thing called the Nagoya Protocol for making our daily moisturizing...

Greenwashing legislation: vital step or lacking impact? 

Greenwashing legislation: vital step or lacking impact? 

With a rise in sustainability and ESG related language in marketing communications, regulators are cracking down. But will the new greenwashing legislation be effective? In 2021, for the first time, greenwashing was the focus of the European Commission's annual online...

Universal Reporting Standards – Pipe Dream or Panacea?  

Universal Reporting Standards – Pipe Dream or Panacea?  

In recent years, stakeholder demand for environmental, social and governance (ESG) information has increased exponentially. Investors need clear, comprehensive, and comparable information to make informed investment decisions. Customers are paying progressively more...

Celebrating ESG’s Late Arrival

Celebrating ESG’s Late Arrival

Campaigners have been forecasting ESG for decades. Finally, businesses are starting to listen. It was the early 90s and an Asian logging company was preparing an IPO in Hong Kong. I was writing a report for the Financial Times on a campaign to boycott the offering...

Avoiding billionaire dependency

Avoiding billionaire dependency

George Soros is restructuring his sprawling foundation, causing anguish among staff and fundees. The wailing and gnashing of teeth at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations during its painful restructuring is a warning of the perils that face campaign groups who...

Regenerating communities with art and lavender

Regenerating communities with art and lavender

Social entrepreneurs are key to repurposing blighted economies. Secateurs for shovels: lavender offers jobs and hope for former miners in West Virginia.   In Appalachia it’s lavender instead of coal, in Cornwall it’s art instead of china clay.  Oceans apart, two...

What’s trending in fashion sustainability reporting?

What’s trending in fashion sustainability reporting?

As part of my work experience with Context, I learned how one of the world’s biggest fashion companies, H&M Group (a Context client), is reporting on sustainability. I wanted to find out more about how some of its competitors are dealing with sustainability and reporting on their progress. This is a report on my findings.

What’s the fuss about double materiality?

What’s the fuss about double materiality?

I used to think the concept of materiality in sustainability-speak was rather hard to understand until I came across the concept of “double materiality” in the EU proposal for improvements to company reporting.    Is double-materiality significant or merely a...

Towards integrated reporting

Towards integrated reporting

You’re thinking of including more sustainability information in your annual report. Given that universal standards for fully integrated reporting are some way off, what do you do?  It’s a good time to make a start, for three reasons: Integrated reporting will be the...

Can sustainability save the dying fur industry in Europe?

Can sustainability save the dying fur industry in Europe?

Coronavirus has meant a difficult year for Europe’s fur industry, with mass culls and breeding bans. Could this be the beginning of the end for fur production in Europe? In November, six countries (Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy and the US) reported...

Are planetary boundaries a great truth?

Are planetary boundaries a great truth?

We’re taking too much from the earth, pushing the planet beyond its limits.  With our unfettered greed for natural resources and our slovenly despoiling of our environment, we’re digging our own grave. That’s the argument of many in the environmental movement (WWF for...

Four reasons to  burn your unwanted clothes. And four not to.

Four reasons to burn your unwanted clothes. And four not to.

What’s wrong with burning unwanted clothes? Surely this is a quicker route to circularity than trying to unpick and recycle modern, blended fabrics?  Chuck the stuff in an incinerator, capture the energy and make sure you catch the toxic fumes too. Job done? Fashion...

GDP: Going down the pan?

GDP: Going down the pan?

Growth is good, right? It’s what learn from birth. Grow up. Aspire. Make more stuff. Make more money. And since the 1940s, a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has become the universal indicator of growth – a measurement of economic wellbeing that enables nations...

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Does C-19 give you a reason to skip a year in your sustainability reporting? It’s a fair question, given that most companies will be short of resources and looking to save a few pennies. We have a solution that saves money and time. More important, it helps you...

Could Covid spell an unfair end to fair trade?

Could Covid spell an unfair end to fair trade?

Credit: SophieB Resilience is probably not the first word that comes to mind as Dennis Gakuru, Fairtrade officer at Valentine Growers in Kenya, ponders his unsold, wilting roses. A well-known expletive is more probable as he and his fair trade farmers bemoan their...

Longing to be frightened by the old normal

Longing to be frightened by the old normal

The convention centre in Glasgow which was to house the annual climate change negotiations in November is now a coronavirus field hospital. Climate change is off the agenda. Way off, for now.  But while the ravages of Covid-19 will eventually diminish, climate...

Can the Rubber Industry Erase its Supply Chain Issues for Good?

Can the Rubber Industry Erase its Supply Chain Issues for Good?

By 2050 there will be at least twice as many cars on the road, and more cars mean more tyres, and more rubber. Natural rubber is a crucial ingredient in modern tyres (see box). The world’s tyre industry consumes around 70% of the planet’s natural rubber supply –...

Atoning for the inaction generations past

Atoning for the inaction generations past

Dateline London October 7. Heading for a breakfast meeting, I exit the Tube to walk across St James’s Park with Buckingham Palace to the left and the government office on Whitehall on the right. In front of me is a white-haired couple bent by considerable age and from...

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

Download the report Costa, Starbucks, Illy, Nespresso – there’s a lot of choice when it comes to coffee. But it’s no longer just down to taste. If we continue to drink coffee as predicted, production must double or even triple by 2050. Brands increasingly need to...

Trending Now: Privacy

Trending Now: Privacy

The digital universe Our lives are tangled up in the internet. It’s difficult to go an hour, much less a day, without firing off an email, reading the news, or scrolling through social media. These exchanges are made possible by the “Internet of Things” (IoT) — a...

A quick WRAP up: What a year of plastics action achieved

A quick WRAP up: What a year of plastics action achieved

Recycling locally is in. This week, Malaysia followed China in taking a tougher stance on plastic waste imports – with mislabelled waste sent back to its country of origin. It’s time to think how the UK can create a better system for handling plastic waste. Enter the...

Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.

Sustainability failed. The future is just climate.

“My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things.” Bill Gates Let’s be honest. We are not going to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. That target is a bust. We are already two thirds of the way towards 1.5 degrees, having reached one...

How Hush Puppies could save us from extinction

How Hush Puppies could save us from extinction

A few days ago Victor Vescovo, a pony-tailed Texas investor and former naval officer, dived about 11km to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific – the deepest a person has ever gone. While peering out of his titanium submersible at the moon-like vista he saw...

Sustainability Reporting, the Smart Way

Sustainability Reporting, the Smart Way

Today, Sonos published their Fiscal Year 2018 Sustainability Report. It has everything you would expect a tech company to cover, from product design to inclusion and diversity to supply chain responsibility. But what makes this report different? It’s only 25 pages....

How to avoid another Great Dying

How to avoid another Great Dying

Nature – and the importance of biodiversity to the health of business – is set to ascend the global agenda. This is because concerned groups – environmental and business – are gearing up to raise awareness of the important deliberations about the future of the UN’s Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), in Beijing in 2020.

Toad&Co Bares All For Sustainable Fashion

Toad&Co Bares All For Sustainable Fashion

Sustainable apparel was a key topic during this year's London Fashion Week, and for good reason. The apparel industry knows their current status quo — the one that made them the fourth largest polluter of air and water, and responsible for 8% of global greenhouse gas...

Deforestation: New Guidelines to Strengthen Company Commitments

Deforestation: New Guidelines to Strengthen Company Commitments

Alongside Ariana Grande and Brexit, you might’ve noticed forests making headlines in early 2019. France adopted its National Strategy to Combat Imported Deforestation, Germany released an Action Plan for sustainable, deforestation-free cocoa, and the European...

#Susty Social Media Ranking

#Susty Social Media Ranking

There are 2.5 billion social media users globally.[1] As a result, companies made social platforms key to their marketing strategy — but who is taking advantage of the mass audience reach for sustainability? That’s the question we set out to answer in our Susty Social...

Farm footprint calculators: Do they make a difference?

Farm footprint calculators: Do they make a difference?

Better data enables better decisions. This is especially true in agriculture, where farmers care about preserving soil health and access to water for future years. Tools exist to collect data to inform decision-making. But do they help farmers protect the environment?...

Packaging: “We just haven’t got a clue what to do”

Packaging: “We just haven’t got a clue what to do”

SustainPack, the Barcelona packaging sustainability conference, left me in no doubt that the packaging industry is in crisis – and in the words of glam-rock legends The Sweet, “we just haven’t got a clue what to do”. The industry, especially the plastic sector is...

(Plastic) Ties that Bind

(Plastic) Ties that Bind

Was it the jaunty plastic straw rammed up the nostril of a sea turtle?  Or maybe the sea horse clinging to a used cotton bud?  Or that Coke bottle inside the gut of an emaciated, very dead orca? Visually speaking, single-use plastics are experiencing an animus...

Reporting Fatigue

Reporting Fatigue

Unwieldy is the word I would use to describe the current state of sustainability disclosures. While it’s true that transparency is essential for progress, too many metrics make it harder, not easier, to understand a company’s performance. Especially when those...

Corporate Action on Sustainable Development Goals

Corporate Action on Sustainable Development Goals

No doubt, you’ve heard of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 17 ambitious targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and usher society into a peaceful and prosperous future. The goals, such as SDG2 “Zero Hunger” and SDG4 “Quality Education” remind us...

Why marketers should avoid inventing social movements

Why marketers should avoid inventing social movements

Can marketers manufacture social movements without creating a #FingerDownTheThroatMoment? Tapping into social movements: Kendall Jenner offers a drink to police in an ill-fated  Pepsi ad linked to Black Lives Matter.   It seems not, but this has not prevented...

Twitter: Audience Expansion for Sustainability Communications

Twitter: Audience Expansion for Sustainability Communications

Your sustainability program is firing on all cylinders. You’ve got goals, you’re making progress, and you’re providing value to your business. After publishing your annual sustainability report you think – we’ve done it, people will finally know what we’ve been up to!...

Employee Activism — The New Force in CR

Employee Activism — The New Force in CR

For years CR professionals have argued that ‘employee recruitment and retention’ is part of the business case for companies becoming more ethical and sustainable. HR surveys regularly confirmed that people prefer to work for responsible companies — a rising trend...

Let’s get digital: Expanding your sustainability reporting audience

Let’s get digital: Expanding your sustainability reporting audience

The first sustainability report we wrote was for Unilever in 1997. Over the last 20 years, the content, audience, and mode of reporting has evolved. It’s no longer about lengthy, printed disclosures geared toward regulatory agencies — it’s about short storytelling to...

My journey through plastics

My journey through plastics

Isobel Roser, Context Intern, investigates the hot topic of 2018: plastics. The tide of popular opinion has officially turned against plastic. This onetime miracle material is now firmly in the public’s bad books, largely prompted by David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet...

Experian unlocks the power of data

Experian unlocks the power of data

Experian’s purpose is to create a better tomorrow by unlocking the power of data to transform lives. Its latest Corporate Responsibility Report shows how the company, best known for its credit services, is fulfilling that purpose. Using its extensive data and...

BT sets out progress in delivering its purpose

BT sets out progress in delivering its purpose

BT’s latest Delivering our Purpose Report finds a welcome balance between ticking the boxes for sustainability experts and offering a clear, compelling narrative for other audiences. It provides an update on progress towards 2020 goals to promote a connected society,...

SIG Combibloc goes Way Beyond Good

SIG Combibloc goes Way Beyond Good

Context client SIG Combibloc has launched an ambitious new strategy to go Way Beyond Good by contributing more to the environment and society than it takes out. One of the world’s leading providers of food and beverage carton packaging, SIG has set the bar high by...

Microfibers: small but significant

Microfibers: small but significant

Outdoor season is upon us but in a cruel twist, the clothes we wear are having a major impact on the places we love. Microfibers, often invisible to the naked eye, are highly damaging to the environment, polluting waterways and filling our food chain with toxins. So,...

Efficient supply chains demand engaging communications

Efficient supply chains demand engaging communications

A red telephone was once standard in the offices of nuclear world leaders, to be used to prevent accidental global destruction. Rather less glamorous procurement departments of large companies had the same, especially those dealing with foodstuffs from faraway places....

Sustainable Development Goals: The New Corporate Holy Grail?‬‬

Sustainable Development Goals: The New Corporate Holy Grail?‬‬

End poverty and hunger. Educate every child. Promote decent work for all. Utopian? Yes. Impossible? No. At least not according to some of the world's leading companies and best-known brands. Somewhat surprisingly, given the lofty ambitions involved, they are embracing...

A company’s guide to sustainable investing

A company’s guide to sustainable investing

In Part 1 of this blog series – Sustainable investing is on the up and up – we discussed how sustainable investing is going mainstream. In November 2016, US SIF reported that one-fifth of all professionally managed assets consider environmental, social, and governance...

Sustainable investing is on the up and up

Sustainable investing is on the up and up

Source: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment - Sustainable and Impact Investing in the United States Overview Sustainable investing isn't just for do-gooders. In Part 1 of this two-part series, we explore the growth of sustainable investing and discuss...

Why Trump is good for corporate sustainability

Why Trump is good for corporate sustainability

Photo: Nakashi - Flickr   Massive upheaval in US politics may seem seismic for the sustainability of corporate sustainability. But, fear not. We are merely experiencing the aftershocks of the really big societal changes that happened a generation ago when...

Hurrah Alert! Fox in the GRI henhouse!

Hurrah Alert! Fox in the GRI henhouse!

Global Reporting Initiative CEO, Tim Mohin. Source: GRI Who said this?   “In essence, when we measure too much, we can lose the signal in the noise. One good example of this is the Global Reporting Initiative…   … reporting on a dizzying array of topics can...

How a boy can keep a sustainable smile in 2017

How a boy can keep a sustainable smile in 2017

Habitat loss, elephant loss, rhino loss, fish loss, water loss, air quality loss, climate denier elected president… How is a boy supposed to keep smiling in 2017?  Cease that wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here are nine positive thoughts to help you escape the sturm...

Myron Ebell:Scott Pruitt – Same difference?

Myron Ebell:Scott Pruitt – Same difference?

As a sustainability professional, the thought of Myron Ebell leading the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seemed like a nightmare. We even wrote about it, here.   So last month, when Trump was faltering on his bold statement that climate change is a...

CVS Health’s sustainability report is just what the doctor ordered

CVS Health’s sustainability report is just what the doctor ordered

 Photo by Mike Mozart Walk into one of the 9,600 CVS Health emporiums around the U.S. and you’ll find almost anything you could need. Snacks, greeting cards, household goods, cosmetics and, of course, drugs dispensed by white-coated pharmacists in the back. But unlike...

Five tips for a successful corporate sustainability career

Five tips for a successful corporate sustainability career

When I started in the field of sustainability in 1992, it wasn’t even called that. It was an eccentric career choice, marginal to business, limited in scope and prospects. Twenty-five years later, sustainability is an industry in its own right, offering a multitude of...

Why I #OptOutside

Why I #OptOutside

Jana takes in the scenery in Prescott, Arizona’s Granite Dells #nofilter Long walks on the beach. Fresh mountain air. Fall leaves crunching under my boots. Yes, the clichés all apply, but opting outside is about more than just the perfect #nofilter shot on Instagram....

Telling the story of climate change

Telling the story of climate change

Photo: Noemí Jiménez Our Associate Ashley delves into the age old question: what makes sustainability communication effective and engaging? At Context, we know that progress on sustainability doesn’t happen by accident – it requires critical analysis, detailed...

The Real Migrant Crisis

The Real Migrant Crisis

Photo: Flickr - Shever The effects of climate change are felt by millions today, and experts believe refugee crises around the world will worsen in step with the symptoms of a warming planet. It appears as if human conflict, like the civil war in Syria, is the driver...

Cultural appropriation

Cultural appropriation

May a white model wear dreadlocks? Is a white male novelist allowed to tell his story through a black female character? Am I permitted to wear a sombrero and say Olé!? The answer is a firm no, unless you want the politically correct (PC) trolls on your back.  Welcome...

Report review: Anheuser-Busch & SABMiller

Report review: Anheuser-Busch & SABMiller

Anheuser-Busch (AB) InBev, the world’s largest brewer, is taking over SABMiller, the world’s second biggest. What does this mean for their respective sustainability programmes? A scan of their latest reports offers some clues. The first comes in the titles. SABMiller...

Mitigating aviation industry emissions: are offsets enough?

Mitigating aviation industry emissions: are offsets enough?

There’s no denying that the aviation industry is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Now, they’re stepping up to curb their emissions through an international carbon offset agreement. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN...

How to make artificial intelligence cute

How to make artificial intelligence cute

Toyota is planning to sell a little robot that behaves like a young child and looks like a cross between a mutant ninja turtle and a short-sighted toddler. So cute! The $400 palm-sized Kirobo Mini is bright enough to learn casual conversations - “are we there yet?” -...

Target Report Review: Target’s year of hits and misses

Target Report Review: Target’s year of hits and misses

The US big-box retailer meets goals on US employee wellbeing but could do much better on human rights in the global supply chain New shoes? Back to school supplies? A new toaster? Cut-price celebrity designer dress? Chances are you can find what you’re looking for at...

Look good, feel good

Look good, feel good

Despite the controversial supply chain issues plaguing the apparel industry, clothes aren’t a commodity we can boycott completely - like a vegetarian giving up meat. But we, as consumers, can make a statement with our  wardrobes  by  ditching the bad brands and...

Pricing Climate Risk

Pricing Climate Risk

Photo: Flickr - Chris Potter In a new report published last week, Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, called for investors to factor climate change into decision making. In the report, Blackrock firmly states that climate risk has long been underappreciated...

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

Photo: Robert Claypool -Flickr Monday is Labor Day in the U.S. – a holiday formally inaugurated in 1894 to pay tribute to the American labor movement. While today it marks the end of summer and an excuse for one last barbecue, it’s also a valuable reminder that there...

Apple CEO misses the point and the opportunity

Apple CEO misses the point and the opportunity

Apple CEO Tim Cook is missing the opportunity to enhance the brand and establish his reputation as a visionary. “Maddening and comes from a political place” was Apple CEO Tim Cook’s response today, to the EU ruling that Apple has illegally avoided $14bn in taxes...

To assure or not to assure, that’s the CR question.

To assure or not to assure, that’s the CR question.

10 things you need to know about third-party assurance and deciding whether or not your company should get its corporate responsibility report assured. It’s that time of year again. While we’re still feeling the summer heat, vacations are winding down and corporate...

PepsiCo asks big questions with #HowWillWe

PepsiCo asks big questions with #HowWillWe

This morning, our client PepsiCo launched a groundbreaking sustainability microsite, #HowWillWe, which provides an interactive and immersive experience to explore and share ideas about issues relevant to the world and PepsiCo’s business.

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Sustainability ranking of top dairy companies

Dairy companies know they need to be more sustainable. Cattle farming is one of the biggest contributors to global methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas. The industry also faces environmental concerns such as soil and biodiversity degradation, as well as issues...

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Report Smart to keep connected and save money

Does C-19 give you a reason to skip a year in your sustainability reporting? It’s a fair question, given that most companies will be short of resources and looking to save a few pennies. We have a solution that saves money and time. More important, it helps you...

Context #Susty Social Media Ranking

Context #Susty Social Media Ranking

Which companies came out on top in the Context #Susty social media ranking? Our ranking reveals how 100 leading companies, with strong sustainability reputations, are using social media, and who is having the most success. Which company... Posts most frequently? Has...

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

How can coffee brands tell a better sustainability story?

Download the report Costa, Starbucks, Illy, Nespresso – there’s a lot of choice when it comes to coffee. But it’s no longer just down to taste. If we continue to drink coffee as predicted, production must double or even triple by 2050. Brands increasingly need to...

Saving the world with big data

Saving the world with big data

The United Nations says that “Big Data represents a new, renewable natural resource with the potential to revolutionise sustainable development and humanitarian practice.”

Integrated Reporting

Integrated Reporting

There is great excitement about the push to get companies to include sustainability indicators in their business and financial reporting.

Stakeholder engagement

Stakeholder engagement

In our highly connected world, where you can so easily befriend and be friended, why are companies so socially isolated?