A Greater Perspective
Building Trust with Broader Society
Building trust with society is not an option, it’s a requirement for success.”
It’s estimated that in the United States alone, over 500 million plastic straws are used and discarded every day. They can take up to 200 years or more to decompose. This means that a significant number of plastic straws end up in landfills or the ocean, where they contribute to environmental pollution.
As part of its efforts to phase out plastic straws worldwide, a recyclable, strawless lid became the new standard for iced beverages in Starbucks stores. The lid was modeled after the lid customers recognize from Starbucks hot drinks and has approximately nine percent less plastic than the flat lid and straw historically used for iced beverages.
Unlike straws that cannot be recycled because of their size, the strawless lid made from polypropylene meets the Association of Plastic Recyclers’ design guidelines for recyclability. It can be recycled in many markets in the US and Canada.
What’s noteworthy about this move by Starbucks is not just the enormous steps it took to implement this program and move toward being more accountable to broader society but that it was led by its Chief Sustainability Officer. According to a study by PwC, in 2021, more CSOs were hired than in the previous five years combined.26 This dramatic rise underscores the growing commitments that many organizations are making in a deliberate effort to grow trust globally and among local communities.
26. “How empowered is your CSO?” PwC, 2021.
“Broader society” generally refers to the larger community or society beyond one’s immediate social circle or group. It encompasses people from various backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic levels and may include individuals not directly connected to or affected by a particular issue or situation. When a company discusses its impact on the broader society, it’s considering the effect of its actions not only on its customers and shareholders but also on the wider community and the environment. The term “broader society” emphasizes the importance of considering the bigger picture and the common good rather than just one’s own interests or those of a small group.
For consumer products organizations, there is crossover when it comes to what we may think of as broader society. The trust a company builds collectively among its employees, suppliers, customers, and end consumers can serve to affect its trust status with society at large. A consumer may want sustainable packaging, or an employee may want to work for a company that promotes positive nutrition. Efforts in these areas often fall into the domain of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), which, for the purposes of this report, is where we generally focus on building trust with broader society.
Of all the industries in the world today, CPG, F&B, Specialty Chemicals, and even Crop Sciences have perhaps the most responsibility for care of the planet, and more eyes watching them. These industries touch or are directly responsible for almost every product that goes in our bodies, on our bodies, or in our homes. According to a report published by Nature Food, food systems are responsible for around one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. And according to a report by the Sustainability Consortium, which evaluates the sustainability performance of consumer products, the CPG industry is responsible for roughly 33 gigatons of CO2.
Apart from emissions, to understand the impact these companies have on the world and human beings, one only needs to consult the United Nations. In September 2015, the UN set out its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the 193 member states at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York. Of these 17 SDGs, consumer products-related industries directly impact nine of them.
Consumer products companies can play a critical role here. For example, companies that produce food and consumer goods can contribute to the SDG of Zero Hunger by increasing food production and reducing food waste. They can also help to promote sustainable agriculture and ensure that their supply chains are free from human rights abuses, child labor, and other forms of exploitation. Companies can also contribute to the SDGs of Good Health and Wellbeing by providing access to safe and nutritious food, promoting healthy lifestyles, and developing products and services that support wellness. In addition, companies can contribute to Sustainable Consumption and Production by reducing their carbon footprint, implementing sustainable practices across their operations, and developing innovative products and services that reduce waste and resource consumption.
Overall, consumer products companies can gain trust with broader society and local communities by aligning their business strategies and practices with the UN SDGs and engaging with all stakeholders to promote sustainability and responsible business practices.
Acting with integrity: What today’s consumer products companies are doing to build trust with broader society
According to Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, “A surge of legislation, development of standards, and consumer awareness has increased the need for companies to demonstrate innovation in design, transparency, and reporting for their products and packaging.” Intertek states, “Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as an essential and widely recognized framework to understand and measure the environmental, social, and economic attributes of a product, material, or process.”27
27. “How empowered is your CSO?” PwC, 2021.
Consumer products companies are increasingly using life cycle assessment and analysis as a tool to determine the real impact of a product from a sustainability perspective. LCA is a comprehensive methodology that evaluates the environmental impact of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal or recycling. By using LCA, consumer products companies can identify the hotspots in the life cycle of a product where the greatest environmental impact occurs and then work to reduce or eliminate those impacts. This approach can help companies design more sustainable products, reduce waste, and minimize the use of resources such as water and energy. Consumer products companies are using LCA in a number of ways, including product design, supply chain management, and marketing and communications.
Global beauty and personal care products company L’Oréal has set bold, measurable targets for 2030 on climate, water, biodiversity, and natural resources.28 It has incorporated LCA into its product development and innovation process. The company uses LCA to evaluate the environmental impact of its products throughout their entire life cycle, from raw materials sourcing to production, use, and disposal. L’Oréal’s Sustainable Product Optimization Tool (SPOT) is an internal software platform that helps the company identify the environmental hotspots of its products and develop strategies to reduce their impact. The tool includes over 30 environmental indicators and covers the entire life cycle of the product, from raw materials to end-of-life. Through the use of SPOT, L’Oréal has been able to develop products that are more sustainable with a reduced environmental impact. For example, the company has developed a shampoo bottle made from 100 percent recycled plastic, which has a 70 percent lower carbon footprint compared to the previous version of the product. L’Oréal also uses LCA to evaluate the sustainability of its supply chain and to work with suppliers to improve their environmental performance.
Consumer products companies increasingly recognize the importance of looking at the larger picture in determining the real impact of a product from a sustainability perspective. By using LCA, companies can create more sustainable products and reduce their environmental impact.
28. L’Oréal Group, L’Oréal for the Future, our sustainability commitments for 2030, 2023.
The pressure to meet sustainability goals isn’t just coming from regulators and legislation but from broader society. Both forces are coming together to compel consumer products companies to adopt wide-ranging health and sustainability agendas and follow through on them. One example is around post-consumer resin and single-use plastics. In 2021, a US Senate bill was introduced that places a tax on virgin plastic resin.29 The revenue will go into the creation of a Plastic Waste Reduction Fund. The European Union’s Green Deal provides for all packaging in the EU area to be reused or recycled by 2030.30 Legislative acts like these, which largely follow constituent desires, are likely to increase in the coming months and years.
“With the trend we’re seeing now, it’s not difficult to imagine a nationwide environmental impact score that will be required by consumer products companies on all packaging,” said John Cooper of Veeva Systems. “This score would be at the product and shelf level so consumers can see what products are better or worse for the environment, which could affect not only buying decisions but the amount of trust broader society has for any product, brand, or company.”
These ratings would conceivably take many factors into account and determine a figure based on life cycle analysis—the full journey of a product from ingredients to manufacturing to shipping. Even today, we’re seeing the emergence of tools like Eco-score, a food label with five categories from A (green, the preferred choice) to E (red, the choice to be avoided). The aim is to help consumers make more ecological choices when purchasing. The tool was developed by a group of eight independent players in France: ECO2 Initiative, Etiquettable, FoodChéri, Marmiton, Open Food Facts, ScanUp, Seazon, and Yuka. There are various other ecolabels, such as the European Ecolabel, which is also based on life cycle analysis (LCA).
It’s often difficult to achieve the balance between effectiveness of a product and its toxicity. A successful product must be effective, but today it must also be safe for humans and the environment to maintain trust with broader society. One example is household hazardous wastes such as antifreeze, bleach, batteries, or tires. There is a significant amount of legislation on this topic, and it begs certain questions of consumer products leaders. “If we’re a company selling these products, wouldn’t we be making sure that end-of-life is non-discriminant? Where does our responsibility begin and end as a producer of these products?”
The Clorox Company has been working on these issues for many years. The company employs teams of chemists and toxicologists to ensure that whatever it produces works effectively but is also safe for consumers and the planet, especially when the product is discarded at end-of-life. Syngenta, provider of agricultural science and technology and, in particular, seeds and pesticides, has an agreement with the industry association.
When authorities or academia have a concern about any of its chemicals or products, information is made immediately available to whoever has a valid interest. Interested parties can also contact Syngenta to learn more. “This implies that you need to have a culture of transparency built in,” said one Syngenta researcher. “It doesn’t happen without a strong commitment to do it internally first, and digital helps to make it possible. We’re also very open to showing studies and research that prove that our products find the balance between safety and efficacy.”
29. “US Senator introduces bill with 10-cent tax on virgin plastic,” ICIS, 2021. 30. “How to prepare for a sustainable future along the value chain,” McKinsey & Company, 2022.
“The three Rs” is a commonly used phrase that refers to the principles of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. These principles are aimed at promoting sustainable use of resources and minimizing waste. Reducing involves decreasing the amount of waste generated by reducing the amount of resources consumed. Reusing includes finding ways to use products more than once rather than throwing them away after a single use. Recycling involves recovering materials from waste products and converting them into new products. The three Rs make up an important concept in sustainable development. They are used as a guide for individuals, businesses, and governments to reduce their impact on the environment and promote a more sustainable future.
To build trust with broader society—and as an effort toward driving the three Rs—numerous consumer products organizations participate in the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC). This organization is made up of over 200 companies from across the packaging supply chain, including raw material suppliers, packaging manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, and waste management companies. Several international consumer products companies—Tetra Pak, Amcor, Ikea, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Procter & Gamble, and others—work in the coalition to promote sustainable packaging practices and reduce the environmental impact of packaging throughout its life cycle. The organization also develops tools and resources like the “How2Recycle” labeling program, which provides standardized recycling labels for packaging materials.
Unilever is one member company that is reworking the size of packaging to ensure that containers are more fitting relative to the size of the product. The company is committed to making packaging lighter or more environmentally friendly without compromising product, performance, or shelf life, while also making sure that packaging is easily recycled or composed of recycled material. This requires investing in R&D and new technologies as well as partnering with suppliers which have the “know-how” when it comes to packaging. Being able to develop breakthrough technologies in the area of the three Rs will not go unnoticed by broader society.
“Unilever is partnering with companies to recycle waste material and has dedicated one of its entire sites in Italy to recycling plastic,” said Rita Iacoviello of Veeva Systems, who formerly worked for Unilever in Italy. “The company is investing a lot of money and R&D efforts to look for alternatives to implement the commitments it’s promising to consumers.” In Japan, Kao Corporation, a multinational consumer goods company that produces personal care, home care, and cosmetic products, has partnered with Terracycle on a free program called “MyKirei.” This allows consumers to send Kao-branded packaging and pumps and Jergens pumps to be cleaned and separated by material type. The materials are then recycled into raw formats manufacturers use to make new products. The company even offers a virtual tour of its processing facilities.
Sustainability initiatives like packaging, water conservation, deforestation, and carbon emissions attract much of the attention of broader society, but there’s also the overall health of human beings to consider when building trust. The number of people with diabetes rose from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014.31 The worldwide prevalence of overweight and obesity has doubled since 1980 to the extent that nearly one-third of the world’s population is now classified as overweight or obese.32 Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally. It doesn’t go unnoticed that what foods and beverages people consume can play a major role in their overall health.
In the F&B space, many companies are making an effort to reduce salt, fat, sugar, and calories. Much of this is being driven by regulatory and consumer pressures, but also by competition. Traditional giants like Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Tyson foods are being disrupted by companies that lead with healthier options and ingredients. Kind Foods, Beyond Meat, Amy’s Kitchen, and Bolthouse Farms are grabbing market share as a result of the trend toward—and demand for—positive nutrition.
31. World Health Organization, Diabetes Key Facts, 2022. 32. “The epidemiology of obesity,” Yu Chung Chooi, Cherlyn Ding, Faidon Magkos, 2019.
It’s not a ‘big brand’ versus ‘small brand’ battle. It’s a ‘relevant’ versus ‘irrelevant’ battle. The brands that serve customers best win. But to do that you need to be close to your consumers, super agile, and faster than anyone else.”
This isn’t to say that large F&B enterprises have not taken action in the area of positive nutrition. On the contrary, Nestlé has been working for two decades to “reduce the levels of sugar, salt and sodium, trans and saturated fats in its products, and to remove artificial trans fats altogether.”33 Sugar, as a key ingredient in its confectionery products, for example, isn’t easily replaced, and alternatives can’t always maintain the taste and texture of chocolate or sugar confectionery. Yet Nestlé has invested heavily in research and development around the world, creating new technologies to overcome this challenge. In five years, the company has reduced sugar from across its UK confectionery portfolio by 10 percent.
Food and beverage enterprises that prioritize positive nutrition are more likely to gain the trust of broader society. By promoting healthy eating habits and lifestyles, these companies can demonstrate that they’re committed to improving the health and w ell-being of their consumers and the community. This can also help to differentiate them from their competitors and create a positive brand image. Furthermore, by prioritizing positive nutrition, food and beverage enterprises can contribute to tackling some of the most pressing health challenges facing society, such as obesity and malnutrition. This can help create a healthier and more sustainable food system that benefits everyone.
33. Reducing sugar, salt, and saturated fat, Nestlé.
As we’ve seen, building trust collectively through making the right choices and investments throughout the value chain and with all stakeholders—employees, suppliers, customers, and consumers—will result in a higher trust value in broader society. Relevant topics include sustainability, transparency, positive nutrition, and doing right by society across the spectrum of what we put in our bodies, on our bodies, and in our homes. Here are some questions consumer products leaders might ask regarding growing trust with broader society.
What steps are we taking to ensure the safety and quality of our products?
Are we transparent about our ingredients and production processes?
How are we addressing issues related to sustainability and environmental impact?
Are we committed to promoting healthy eating habits and lifestyles?
What measures are we taking to address concerns related to social responsibility, such as fair labor practices and animal welfare?
How are we collaborating with other industry players and stakeholders to drive positive change?
Are we regularly evaluating and improving our practices to ensure we are meeting the evolving needs and expectations of consumers and the broader society?
Are we investing in the right technologies that will help us to achieve our ESG and nutrition goals?
