New Consumer

People Want Transparency on Climate Progress: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

That means brands must be honest about failures and rethink consumption

illustration of a computer on a green background with a light shining from it containing elements of climate change such as electricity, vehicles, batteries — A new Adweek-Morning Consult survey shows roughly three-quarters of Americans think it's important for brands to regularly update the public on their progress toward sustainability goals.denkcreative/Getty Images

No brand wants to tell the world that it’s falling behind on its sustainability progress, that its program didn’t work out as intended, that its new refillable option never took off, or that the carbon offsets it paid for were actually a scam.

But that’s exactly the kind of information that people want companies to be honest about.

A new Adweek-Morning Consult survey shows roughly three-quarters of Americans think it’s important for brands to regularly update the public on their progress toward sustainability goals, regardless of whether the news is good or bad.