How Sustainability Is Impacting Wellness Business Strategies

LONDON, United Kingdom — International law firm Bird & Bird has released a report providing insights into the impact of sustainability on business priorities, innovation and leadership.

Produced by Bird & Bird’s Retail & Consumer team, alongside the firm’s consultancy arm OXYGY, the report, which uses data from more than 100 international participants in luxury, fashion & retail, food & beverage, hotels and hospitality & leisure, aims to provide insights that will help businesses move towards their sustainability goals.

The survey asked respondents — who typically don’t have a sustainability title — across the Retail & Consumer sector, to provide their perspective on a range of sustainability-related topics, including the extent to which they are involved in helping shape and execute their organisation’s sustainability strategies and tactics, whether they view sustainability as an opportunity for innovation and what they see as drivers for success.

With sustainability now core to the business strategy of industry leaders, an increasing number of business departments are getting involved to shape and execute sustainability strategies aimed at achieving measurable goals. This report uncovers the strategies that are taking precedence. 

Key takeaways from the report show that:
  1. Companies that see sustainability as a driver for innovation report that they are ahead of their competitors.
  2. Collaboration, internally and externally, is an important capability that drives the success of sustainability strategies.
  3. Employees want to be more involved in their company’s sustainability efforts.

Speaking about the report, Graeme Payne, head of the international Retail & Consumer sector group explained:

“With Bird & Bird’s focus on disruption and innovation, we were keen to understand how our clients are addressing one of the most important issues to date: sustainability. One key finding from the survey that struck us was that more than a third of respondents said sustainability increased in importance in the last year, an outcome that was already underway but accelerated by the pandemic.”

He continued: “The results from this survey prove that sustainability is high on the agenda of businesses within the retail and consumer industry, so it’s important that companies looking to work with, advise or partner with these businesses prioritise this area now and in the future.”

If you’d like to access the full report, you can download it here.

To have a conversation with the Bird & Bird & OXYGY team about your sustainability strategy or discuss any questions you have on this topic, you get in touch at: RetailandConsumerandSustainability@twobirds.com