Net Zero isn’t cutting it. The word 'sustainability' is tired, vague and no longer fit for purpose. Marketers need to drop the old-school ESG lexicon and embrace the reality: this isn’t an environmental movement anymore - it’s a full-blown technological and market revolution. While everyone’s hiding from greenwashing accusations, they’re missing the business opportunity of the century.
5 Key Points Marketers Need to Know
Net Zero Has Flatlined
Net Zero targets are stale, misused and increasingly performative. Most corporate plans don’t align with the science, aren’t aggressive enough and are failing in practice - 239 firms were recently downgraded by the Science-Based Targets initiative. We’re measuring, not fixing. The language of Net Zero has become an escape hatch for corporate inaction.
‘Sustainability’ Is the Wrong Word
It’s vague, safe, and wholly inadequate for the radical changes now required. When marketers say “sustainability,” they think of recycling bins, paper straws and “purpose-led” copy. But the time for minor tweaks to comms is over. This revolution is economic, industrial and behavioural. Marketers need a new vocabulary and a new brief.
This Is a Market and Tech Revolution, Not a CSR Campaign
$275 trillion is shifting into new energy, mobility, infrastructure and food systems by 2050. The economy transforming underneath your feet. This isn’t about lofty ‘purpose’ - it’s about profit. The firms building resilient new business models are growing at 10% year on year whilst the traditional economy flatlines.
Greenhushing Is the Real Danger
Everyone's so paralysed by fear of greenwashing they’ve shut up completely. That's worse. It turns down the volume on change and lets the old fossil economy off the hook. If you’re in marketing and you’re silent, you're part of the problem. Your creativity, your platform, your influence - it all matters. Use it.
Performance Rises When You Use This Right
When sustainability is positioned as a co-benefit - not the lead, campaign effectiveness rises by 10–30%. Because it’s not a moral message, it’s a better product. The future isn’t ‘green’, it’s high-performance, high-value, low-impact. That’s the story that needs telling.
3 Takeaways
The language is broken
‘Sustainability’ and ‘Net Zero’ are tired terms from a previous era. We need sharper, bolder, business-first framing.
This is a revolution, not a campaign
The biggest economic reordering since the industrial revolution is already in motion. Get on board or get left behind.
Marketing has leverage
When done right, the transition isn’t a drag on performance - it’s a turbocharger.
2 Action Items
to take from this
Rebrief your brand
Stop trying to 'communicate sustainability'. Start commercialising the revolution. How does your brand make low-impact choices desirable and default?
Deploy Demand Switching
Your job isn’t to sell more, it’s to sell differently. Shift demand from outdated models to future-fit products and services.
The shift in thinking required is fundamental: this isn't about saving the planet through virtue - it's about capturing value through smart strategy.
“Fixing the planet isn’t a moral crusade. It’s just good business. Shame and guilt won’t get us there. Markets will.”
Leo Rayman EdenLab
Marketers, wake up. You’re not the conscience of the business, you’re its compass. The revolution has started. Don’t get caught selling VHS in a Netflix world.
