Sustainability is the reason Ikea are selling bikes
Curtin University food and agribusiness marketing professor Peter J Batt said the likes of Nestle, Kelloggs and Heineken were making dramatic changes within the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative.
“Sustainability is becoming mainstream,” Batt told HuffPost Australia.
“Big multinationals are involved in the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative to say to their suppliers ‘I’ll only take your product if you can show me it’s farmed sustainably’.”
Batt said this meant changes to farming methods, supply chains and attitudes to ethical issues.
“There’s a saying that it’s hard to be green when you’re in the red,” Batt said.
“Increasingly businesses are finding ways to be profitable while maintaining what you’d call a social licence.
“It’s about doing the right thing for the next generation, whether it’s John West’s certified sustainable fishing industry or no-till crops in Australia.”
A Pure Profile study of 1000 people found 63 percent of Australians wanted to be more sustainable but half didn’t know where to start. The study also showed 39 percent found sustainability “completely overwhelming”.
University of Technology Sydney Associate Professor Paul Burke told HuffPost Australia the consumer wasn’t necessarily across the finer points of sustainability.
“There has definitely been a growing interest in the sustainability of products in terms of minimising harm to the environment in manufacture, shipping and disposing of the however there’s still a strong disconnect between what consumers say they value and what they actually choose when shopping,” Burke said.
For those wanting to make their home more sustainable, Wilson said the best advice was to start small. Like on your mixer tap.
“Most families have a mixer tap in their kitchen or bathroom and generally, you’ll flip it up when it’s half cold half warm,” Wilson said. To read more click here.
The National Sustainability in Business Conference; renewables, markets, innovation, opportunities and capital will be held 23 – 24 March 2017 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Brisbane.
To express your interest in the Conference CLICK HERE.
