Now with 33% More Science
Being Intentional - Motive's Bi-Weekly newsletter for Intentional Shoppers
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the Being Intentional newsletter. We’re grateful for your support and hope you enjoy this latest edition. Let’s get into it, shall we?
Science and reality appeared to notch wins during last week’s UN General Assembly.
In a rather stunning turn of events, it was UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson that passionately laid out a case for common sense, calling on the world to grow up and deal with climate change. Cheers if you had that on your 2021 bingo card. In his address to the UN Johnson had this to say:
"We believe that someone else will clear up the mess because that is what someone else has always done. We trash our habitats, again and again, with the inductive reasoning that we've gotten away with it so far, and therefore, we'll get away with it again. My friends, the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end and must come to an end."
The UN gathering also saw U.S. President Biden make his second pledge of financial aid aimed at helping developing nations deal with the effects of climate change and to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. In his announcement, the President noted that this would bring the U.S. commitment to a total annual outlay of about $11 billion by 2024. Additionally, President Biden announced the new President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) with a focus on Climate Change.
Confronting reality: ✅
Focusing on science: ✅
Big stages with larger audiences are catnip to elected officials so it’s no surprise that sustainability themes are front and center in New York. While we may not have expected Boris Johnson to be the bearer of cold water, we certainly expected climate change to garner significant airtime.
However, we should also expect follow-through on these declarations. As this article makes clear, “highly-polluting business in industries such as oil, aviation, and cement have generally adopted the “easy” target of net-zero by 2050 preferred by many politicians.” This is considered the “easy” option because for many corporations (and governments) the problem becomes the “next management’s problem”. In addition to the “easy option,” as we discuss later in the newsletter, of the 4,215 companies hailing from the G20 countries which have announced climate action plans and carbon targets, only 20% are science-based.
Sometimes the problem doesn’t wait until the next management or government. Case-in-point: even as Boris Johnson was sounding the reality alarm on climate change his government is currently dealing with the West Cumbria coal mine which proposes to extract ~ 2.7m tons of metallurgical coal.
All of this is to say, applaud when people step up to SAY the right thing but support those that DO the right thing. The best part is that we don’t have to guess what people are doing; we all have the data to show when companies are doing the right thing versus when they are simply saying the right thing. We have never lived in a time when it’s been so easy to hold those in power accountable to what they say!
Fall is upon us and it is now sweater weather--at least that is what Instagram is telling us and, as we all know, influencers know best. We aren’t going to tell you which sweaters to wear as there are simply too many variables in personal style and preference, but we can tell you what may be best in terms of cleaning your sweaters.
When running yet another load of laundry, consider adding a dose of Arm & Hammer (RS: 44, ↑99%), Purex (aka Persil) (RS: 33, ↑95%), or Woolite (RS: 31, ↑93%) detergent instead of Tide (aka Gain) (RS: 15, ↑65%), Kirkland (RS: 5, ↑50%), or Great Value (RS: -1, ↓58%). They may all clean your clothes, but they are not all made clean.
(* RS= RealScore value, ↑↓=percentile raking)
There is power in marketing. What was building up to be a typical reporting period for Motive user activity was completely thrown for a loop by the Apple PR event on September 15th.
This singular event skewed consumer interest and curiosity and pushed Apple into the most searched brand on AskMotive.com. In fact, Apple grew to represent over 42% of all user searches. For each reporting period, we typically see a relatively small sub-sample of brands capture a critical threshold of interest, but never before have we seen one distinct brand capture such a prominent share on its own.
Clearly, people were intrigued to see what new gadgets Apple was bringing to market. Even better, many people were also interested in understanding the impacts of Apple in bringing these products to market.
From our Blog:
ESG May Not Mean What You Think It Does
The demand for ESG products, from data to analytics to managed investment products, is absolutely booming. And of course, so is the number of products and services purposefully being mislabeled as being ESG--grifters, cans, and predatory service providers will never miss an opportunity to make a buck. Remember, ESG itself is not a product, a process, or a promise--it is data. Any offer that doesn’t make this distinction is likely more marketing than it is substance.
It’s About Outcomes Not Frameworks
With growing interest in ESG and corporate sustainability comes a seemingly ever-growing wave of third-party, industry, and NGO associations, coalitions, and frameworks promising to help coordinate corporate efforts and initiatives. Companies should be cautious in their participation with such frameworks and coalitions as not all are created equal. Consumers and stakeholders expect measurable outcomes and impacts, and participation in a coalition or shared initiatives are not actually an outcome--participation must be able to lead to something.
From our YouTube Channel:
Companies just getting started with ESG reporting may have lots to consider, so why not take a page from some of the best practices as demonstrated by leaders in this space?
G20 companies neglecting science when setting climate targets
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) is meeting in Glasgow, UK, in early November to seek common ground in advancing climate action ambitions beyond the 2015 Paris Agreement. This is a huge event in the climate space and so of course national governments and companies alike are not going to be missing out on such a great PR opportunity. Leading into November, ever more ambitious climate action plans and promises are being unveiled, marketed, and promoted. Unfortunately, of the 4,215 companies hailing from the G20 countries which have announced climate action plans and carbon targets, only 20% are science-based and in line with meeting the (soon to be historical) goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. COP26 is billed as a pivotal moment for our world’s future, but we all need to make sure it delivers more than just another photo op.