Last week, the thinkPARALLAX team attended, spoke, and hosted sessions at GreenBiz 24, the industry’s preeminent sustainability event where corporate leaders, non-profits, and visionaries converge to talk about the present and future of sustainable business. This year’s event was bigger than ever, with nearly 3,000 attendees and sessions ranging from regulation to biodiversity, circularity, employee engagement, and everything in between. Here is a recap of some of our top takeaways:

1. The emergence of the "Sustainability Communicator": This year we saw a proliferation of professionals bearing titles that combine sustainability with communications, marketing, or branding. This shift signals a growing acknowledgment among companies of the importance of effectively and credibly communicating sustainability initiatives and stories.

2. A transition from "ESG" terminology: In sessions and conversations, the consensus seems to be that we are moving away from the highly politicized term “ESG” and instead moving back to terms like sustainability or impact. Thankfully, the consensus is also that despite noisy anti-ESG critics and the pivot in terminology, teams and companies remain committed to their sustainability ambitions and are continuing to drive and accelerate progress.

3. Continued urging not to greenwash or greenhush: Several sessions highlighted how greenwashing accusations and political backlash have lead companies to disclose less about their sustainability efforts (including, notably in 2024, a shift away from promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion narratives towards “safer” philanthropy-centric storytelling).  Leading companies acknowledged how the antidote to this is to focus on the topics that have clear business value and brand alignment and are backed by clear, verified data.

4. A focus on scope 3 and supply chain: The imperative of addressing Scope 3 emissions and supply chain impacts is now well-established as the next frontier in sustainability. These issues require thoughtful long-term planning, cultivating relationships and trust with supply chain partners, and in many cases, leveraging influence rather than control. In addition, this work is highly urgent if we’re to collectively meet 2030 global climate targets. 

5. Effective cross-collaboration is needed now more than ever: The industry has more specialized people than ever before, making it hard for many to see the holistic, bigger picture of the system they’re working within, and more difficult to connect to root causes without masterful cross-collaboration. We need to connect our work back to our personal impact and reimagine how we work across our teams to create lasting change now more than ever.

As we navigate the complexities of the sustainability landscape, the call for collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity rings louder than ever before. Have ideas about how to collaborate to create sustainable change? Get in contact with us.