Don’t fall for the greenlash—sustainability is still a (literal) burning platform

The greenlash—perceived as opposition to sustainability initiatives—is, at most, a greenhush. Don’t deprioritize sustainability to find yourself frantically trying to catch up when the mist clears. While some politicians are loudly battling climate action, many business leaders are quieter on this topic than two years ago. But being quiet doesn’t mean sustainability strategies, technologies, operations, or hiring are deprioritized—they’re accelerating. If anything, the rhetorical ‘greenlash’ is creating an increasingly welcome focus on making sustainability work on all environmental, social, and economic fronts.

Unmasking the greenlash will cause panic among those who deprioritized sustainability

Past champions of embedding sustainability in business, such as Unilever and BlackRock, have scaled back their rhetoric. Microsoft and Bloomberg, among other giants, are also moving away from distinct diversity (DEI) programs. But if you bother to look under the hood, they’re not materially changing their strategies. They often publicly retain their commitments, showing just how paper-thin the backlash is against incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in business. Even highly anti-ESG politicians in the US stay quiet when climate funding lands in Republican states.

85% of C-level executives increased their sustainability funding over the past year

Corporate surveys consistently suggest that sustainability spending is increasing for most businesses. A Deloitte study of more than 2,100 C-level executives found that 85% increased their sustainability spending, expecting direct benefits. Published at the same time, a Bain study looked at B2B and B2C customer sustainability attitudes. Demand is high, even if the CEO rhetoric is low, as a Climate Impact Partners study also found. A KPMG research found that 69% of CEOs maintained their sustainability strategies during the last 12 months despite changing their climate-related language.

Sadly, many businesses and politicians worldwide have found it far too easy to accept the idea of an ESG backlash—because sustainability is difficult. Sustainability can work on all environmental, social, and economic fronts. And those who prove that will be part of a critical mass that creates positive tipping points and pulls along policy, consumers, and businesses. But that doesn’t mean sustainability is easy or the immediate business case is always obvious. Transition planning is vital—and so is having the right people to build and implement those plans.

Deprioritizing sustainability now will mean struggling to retain or re-hire when the time comes

LinkedIn research found that during 2021–2024, the demand for green skills grew by 5.9% annually, compared to the available green skills that only increased by 3.2%. In 2023, that gap rose to 11.6% and 5.7%, respectively. The hiring rate for green talent is 55% higher than average (80% higher in the US and 70% in the UK). Broader public sentiment mirrors company hiring behavior.

Exhibit 1: ESG backlash? Don’t tell HR

Source: LinkedIn, 2024

The public wildly supports climate and sustainability action—as long as it’s implemented and communicated well

The UN recently released its People’s Climate Vote report. Globally, 80% of people surveyed want their country to do more to tackle climate change. People want governments and businesses to make sustainability work. Studies consistently show that consumers and voters hold sustainability in high regard.

However, the disconnect remains for many between tackling the climate and sustainability emergency, seeing its impact, and realizing the benefits, as voting behavior often shows. Decision-makers must also contend with a small but potent minority with the largest anti-sustainability agenda.

The fossil fuel sector is doing its best to create a greenlash, and politicians are far too quick to capitulate

Fossil fuel firms have been lobbying for, even drafting legislation, in the US to restrict and punish climate protesters heavily. The UK is mirroring this trend, with recent sentences for climate protesters more than twice as high for the instigators of violent riots.

These stories make an impact, especially when jail terms are meted out. However, the UN’s research shows that they go directly against public sentiment. The People’s Climate Vote study also found that 72% of people globally want to move from fossil fuels to clean energy, and a majority say the same in 9 of the 10 biggest oil-producing countries.

But it’s not only politics that has given the idea of a greenlash so much traction.

Some of the greenhushing is a fear of greenwashing

Marketing teams face a dilemma: champion positive sustainability actions and risk being branded as greenwashing, or stay quiet and risk being seen as ambitionless.

To overcome this dilemma, The Anti-Greenwash Charter is one organization championing the need for transparency, authenticity, and trust in sustainability communications. HFS has also called for companies to be bold, disclose what they haven’t solved in their sustainability roadmaps, and allow an ecosystem to coalesce around them to provide the needed help. This is particularly true for oil and gas—where trust couldn’t be lower; this isn’t surprising, given the industry’s well-documented history of covering up climate evidence and more recent crusade against climate activists detailed above.

The Bottom Line: The global sustainability context remains, and so should your transition plan. Don’t deprioritize it and find yourself frantically reacting to catch up when the greenlash crumbles.

Remember Blockbuster and Kodak? Being ahead usually beats catching up, even if the transition appears bumpy.

Transition plans are perhaps the most vital element of sustainability. That’s especially true when it comes to overcoming noise like the greenlash. We know where we’re heading—the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) make for terrific roadmap endpoints. And even if all the data isn’t available for a full baseline, there are enough examples of success to work out what’s material to your business and sustainability—to know your starting point and move forward on the SDGs and Paris Agreement trajectories. The near future timeline for sustainability is uncertain, but the medium to long term is not. It cannot be.