Familiarity with the term “sustainability” has grown steadily in recent years, but consumer confidence in identifying sustainable products and companies lags behind. And yet, there are opportunities for food and beverage companies to stand out from the crowd and clearly communicate their sustainable practices and product attributes. Consumers want to reward you with their purchases.

A new white paper from The Hartman Group Closing the Gap in Sustainability builds on over 25 years of research and strategic analysis relating to how consumers frame sustainable beliefs and behaviors in a world increasingly dominated by headlines that intersect with the topic. As documented in our biannual studies on the topic, consumer familiarity with the term “sustainability” has grown steadily in recent years, but consumer confidence in identifying sustainable products and companies lags behind.

Closing the Gap in Sustainability highlights how the gap between general familiarity with sustainability’s meaning and a seeming inability to identify products and companies with the term represents a significant opportunity for companies to stand out from the crowd and clearly communicate their sustainable practices and product attributes since, at the end of the day, consumers want to reward you with their purchases.

Closing the Gap in Sustainability describes how sustainability’s importance as a purchase criterion has grown over time and notes that if younger consumers are an indicator of future trends, sustainable purchasing will continue to rise. Companies can help consumers live in accordance with their values by taking a loud and clear stand in this arena.

The white paper identifies and analyzes key components of closing the gap and includes discussion of key environmental and social issues including:

• Packaging and Plastics
• Pollution, Resource Use and Climate Change
• Agriculture
• Economic Vulnerability
• Labor
• Social Justice
• Recommendations for Food and Beverage Companies