Lack of Transparency: consumer distrust

Welcome to sustainable.Agency's new blog! Consider it a space for comment and interaction on some of the pressing social and environmental issues confronting people, businesses and other organizations struggling to deal with an important transition taking place.

It's time to stop waiting for federal and provincial governments to take the steps necessary to position Canada as a leader in the global green economy. The responsibility of building the country today that we would like to live in tomorrow now falls on all businesses, small medium and large. Fortunately, a dedication to social and environmental sustainability can significantly help organizations, especially when times are rough, as global management consulting firm AT Kearney points out in a recent study.

Amid recent talk of what caused the world to fall into a recession, the issues of shadowy financial transactions and and a lack of information have generally come together in a common thread: transparency – how there currently isn't enough of it, and how we're going to need lots more of it to get the economy back on track.
This lack of transparency has translated into consumer distrust, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the green economy. Which companies are truly green? What does it even mean to be green?

People are becoming increasingly wary of greenwashing, and for good reason: a recent study by environmental marketing agency Terra Choice revealed that out of 1,753 environmental product claims, all but one were guilty of misleading consumers. With no evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe that most companies do not deliberately mislead consumers, but rather misunderstand how vague, irrelevant or unproven claims can be just as damaging their reputation as it is to the environment.

My partner Sarah and I founded this agency in part because we believe all companies need to take transparency to the next level, by communicating in a responsible way and by publicly disclosing the impacts their activities, thereby informing themselves as as well as their stakeholders - employees, clients, NGO's, news media or the communities of people who live and work around them.

While transparency can be incredibly useful to large corporations, it's also an opportunity for small businesses, particularly the ones that, like sustainable.Agency, were founded with the hope of helping society become better by becoming greener and fairer. These businesses, just like NGO's and non-profits, have everything to gain by going public with their positive and negative impacts. It's about walking the talk.

The agency helps small, sustainable companies get the word out about the leadership role they are taking in the green economy. What makes them different? How are they helping society make the transition to an economy where sustainability is not seen as a cost, but rather a way to significantly improve quality of life for everyone? SME's make up 90 percent of businesses, and can make significant contributions to society – many of them are. So let's start talking about it.