Beyond Sustainability: why the future must be built by Super-Sustainable Businesses

Sustainability. A subject at the forefront of public consciousness and one that brands have continued to engage with as a concept. However, sustainability has evolved beyond just environmental concerns into something much larger, a topic that requires more than simple sentiments from brands. How and what can brands do to fully engage with this new sustainable mindset?

That very question is the basis for a new brand framework, laid out in FutureBrand’s recently launched ‘Super-Sustainable Business’ report and podcast. The report aims to lay the blueprint of how brands can reach beyond what is in public discourse and create a new notion of ‘sustainability'.

The report details the need for businesses to transform into Super-Sustainable entities if they want to survive, let alone thrive in the future. With the usual focus on robust corporate social responsibility programmes and consumer-facing green initiatives not enough in the current climate, brands need to push further to achieve this new sustainable model.

The report details the five fundamental behaviours of a Super-Sustainable Business, based on an analysis and distillation of the eighteen core attributes of businesses that are truly “future-proofed” year-on-year, according to the FutureBrand Index.

Companies like Tesla, Apple, Walmart and Microsoft are primed to rise to this challenge, based on the attributes they display and their perception by informed respondents in the Index. Brands that excel in the FutureBrand Index have a significant competitive market advantage, with the research emphasising how market capitalisation is not the best reflection of future success.

As we move past the pandemic emergency and other acute pressures of the past 18 months, a renewed focus on sustainability is imminent, driven by public expectation which is now broader, deeper and more nuanced than ever and business has to exceed, no longer just meet, it to thrive.

Download the full Super-Sustainable Business report here.