How do you know when something becomes the norm? Trends in corporate sustainability have been mostly consistent — an expanding climate crisis, lightning-speed growth in clean tech, rising pressure from many stakeholders, and more. But I generally felt a sense of, “these trends are growing and will be dominant…someday.” In the past year, however, “someday” seems to have finally become “today” — and there is no going back.
Sustainable Business Went Mainstream in 2021
This year, ESG moved from a “nice to have” to an essential part of corporate strategy — and there’s no going back.
December 27, 2021, Updated January 06, 2022
Juan Moyano/Stocksy
Summary.
In 2021, many climate trends that were gaining steam in years past became the norm. In this article, which describes the five biggest climate and sustainable business stories from the past year, the author points to ESG standards and electric vehicles as two of these “there’s no going back” items. The other three stories — business defending democracy, the COP26 climate meeting, and tech’s role in sustainability, were decidedly more mixed. As for 2022, look out for the growing youth voice, ESG tug-of-wars and new standards, and more partnerships to solve big problems, among other coming trends.