Supporting your customers in making better purchasing
We often want to make the right decisions, but do we have sufficient information in order to do so? Research shows that B2B and B2C customers, along with other stakeholders, seek greater product transparency on ESG and aim for greater sustainability in purchasing. However, these intentions are often hindered by insufficient information.
With increasing sustainability regulations, organisations must comply with evolving standards, global initiatives such as deforestation-free product regulations, and tools like the digital product passport. Sustainability also increasingly shapes organisational strategy, driving scrutiny into scope 3 emissions and product environmental impact.
Our product sustainability insights solutions were born to answer this challenge through four pillars:
- Know: Understand the impact of products based on product impact data calculated according to internationally recognised standards
- Communicate: Inform stakeholders of the impact, thereby providing transparency, answering customer demand and promoting sales growth.
- Improve: Enable organisations to improve upon their products and operations based on trusted calculations.
- Comply: Use product level data and calculations to comply with (upcoming) legislation, such as the EUDR or CSRD.
The way of the future
Several prominent market trends necessitate the need for increased insight into product sustainability performance.
Customer demand
Several studies indicate that both B2B and B2C customers prefer ESG-driven brands and strive to purchase more sustainably. However, the inconsistency present in the sparse sustainability information that currently exists makes it hard to determine which product is actually the best.
Sustainability legislation
Recent years have seen a surge in new legislation and guidelines designed to combat greenwashing through specifying rules for product sustainability impact calculation and communication.
New regulations, such as the CSRD and upcoming Green Claims Directive, steer companies towards complete value chain measurement and transparency. Also, the Regulation on Deforestation-free products enforces organisations to be compliant by the end of 2024.
- Relevant legislations include but are not limited to: ACM (Leidraad duurzaamheidsclaims): Dutch guidelines promote transparent sustainability claims, bolstering consumer trust in eco-friendly products.
- Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR): Mandates deforestation-free practices, ensuring rigorous supply chain scrutiny for sustainability accountability.
- Green Claims Directive: EU standardizes environmental claims, curbing greenwashing and promoting truthful sustainability communication.
- Digital product passport (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation): Enforces digital records of product environmental impact, driving eco-design and transparent sustainability communication.
- CSRD / CSDDD: Demands comprehensive sustainability disclosure, enhancing transparency and accountability in reporting for informed decision-making.
Scope 3 emissions
Companies are increasingly considering Scope 3 emissions to obtain an understanding of the company’s overall environmental impact, including suppliers, customers, and product lifecycle. A large part of the ESG impact of products and services is in the value chain. Gaining insight into a large list of ESG indicators is complex and requires cooperation, which is becoming possible through the use of new technology, such as AI and digital value chain twins, to help enable efficiency and transparency.
Being green sells
Research indicates that products with sustainability claims grow, on average over all product categories, faster than non-claimed products. Investors and financial institutions are increasingly focussing on ESG as a driver for value and risk. However, skepticism regarding corporate ‘greenwashing’ makes successful communication of sustainable operations challenging. Also, there are differences across product groups and stakeholders' context. B
Empowering sustainable product decisions; The first steps
- Strategy
- Trust
- Collaboration
- Technology
- Communication
- Compliance
- Prototype
Strategy
Understand the benefits of reporting product impact information.
Product sustainability insights play a crucial role in driving positive change, enhancing brand reputation, and capitalising on market trends towards sustainability. Leveraging product sustainability insights empower organisations to make informed decisions, mitigate risks, and meet growing consumer demand for sustainable products. Understanding the benefits, and creating your strategy around it, supports prioritizing further steps in your approach
Trust
Know what to measure for trusted outcomes.
It is vital to align with trusted methodologies and select metrics that resonate with the target audience, ensuring credibility and reliability in assessing the sustainability impact of products. In light of increased skepticism towards corporate greenwashing, offering thorough and transparent explanations for calculations and depicted claims is essential to establish and sustain trust with stakeholders.
Collaboration
Design strategies to ensure supplier engagement and collaboration.
The provision of product environmental impact information requires extensive amounts of data collected throughout the product’s lifecycle. Effective engagement of stakeholders, primarily suppliers, is key to ensuring that this information is collected. Classifying suppliers according to their willingness and ability to provide data allows you to design specific strategies to promote effective collaboration.
Technology
Use technology that enables data integration, calculation and communication.
Thorough research is essential for selecting the appropriate technology for calculating product sustainability insights, ensuring it adeptly collects, organises, analyses, and communicates sustainability scores. Organisations can leverage various technologies like data integration platforms, analytics software, blockchain, cloud computing, IoT devices, and data visualisation tools, to achieve this goal across the supply chain. Through our experience, we have established prototypes, tooling solutions and integrations to streamline this solution.
Communication
Craft targeted communications for varied stakeholders and personas.
Engaging suppliers and customers ensures transparent communication channels and access to crucial data when collecting and sharing information needed. One target audience can often be segmented into sub-groups that differ in their motivations and values surrounding sustainable purchasing. The creation of research-backed personas allows you to tailor your communication strategies that successfully resonate with each group’s values.
Compliance
Ensure compliance with existing and upcoming legislation.
Establishing transparent sustainability measurement methods requires collaboration with sustainability experts, adherence to industry standards, and awareness of emerging best practices and regulations. For instance, the EU Green Claims Directive mandates scientific substantiation for sustainability claims and rigorous certification for new claims.
Prototype
Pilot to assess how product sustainability insights and communication can work for your organisation and relevant stakeholders.
Conducting a small-scale trial will help gauge the effectiveness of integrating product sustainability insights and communication strategies within your organisation, refine approaches and display areas for improvement.
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