Zurich, 17 Jan, 2024 – South Pole's latest annual Net Zero Report released today found that the majority of surveyed companies in nine of the 14 major sectors are intentionally decreasing their climate communications, otherwise known as 'greenhushing', first evidenced by South Pole in 2022. This year's report, which surveyed over 1,400 companies with dedicated sustainability leads, across 12 countries and 14 sectors, takes a closer look at companies choosing to not publicise their climate strategies or goals and deliberately decrease or cease external communications around them.
The report confirms, for the first time, that the trend of 'greenhushing' is present across nearly every major sector around the world, from fashion, to tech, and FMCG, according to new independent research from South Pole, based on data collected by UK research firm Sapio.
There is a clear disconnect between corporates' belief in the value of communicating their climate goals and their confidence in doing so. Of all those surveyed, most companies (81%) say that they know communicating net zero is good for their bottom line, but over half (58%) of those who are finding it as or more difficult than before to communicate their climate action are deliberately planning to decrease their level of external communications. This tension is further exacerbated by the research findings, which imply that companies see net zero goals overall as central for commercial success: nearly half (46%) of all surveyed businesses said that they were pursuing net zero to meet customer demands, but also to improve risk management across their supply chains (39%).
Every sector is soon to be or is already facing a new world of compliance measures on emissions reductions or sustainability, and these changes in policy are cited as one of the top drivers for why companies are 'greenhushing'. Today's data suggests that most companies are struggling so much to adapt to new regulations and compliance schemes, and that they are no longer communicating their climate strategies and goals with confidence.
Fear of scrutiny by investors was another top reason for 'greenhushing', uniquely given by both a majority of environmental services companies as well as oil and gas ( 51% and 57% respectively). It invites a debate on whether investor pressure and short-term financial goals could be deterring long-term climate action. Most other sectors – such as retail and fashion, tech, consumer goods, and transport – listed other top reasons, like “regulatory requirements" and “lack of guidance on best practice".
Surprisingly, the majority of all surveyed companies still found climate neutral claims 'fit for purpose', despite the rapidly changing and increasingly regulated landscape of corporate climate claims.
“Our latest Net Zero Report finds a continuing and deepening contradiction between taking corporate climate but choosing not to communicate around it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of global companies are doing nothing at all, with no public targets to show," says John Davis, Interim CEO, South Pole. "It is possible that our research findings are simply an indication of a corporate 'hush' before the regulatory storm, which will inevitably require all companies to communicate their climate impact and progress on net zero goals. As corporate climate action continues to mature, now is the time for business leaders to meet the moment, and openly share both progress and challenges on climate action, so that we can monitor this and also learn from mistakes."
“Our latest research shows that too many companies in the surveyed cohort are working towards highly optimistic, possibly even unrealistic, net zero target dates of by 2030 or earlier. And while we see an encouraging number of science-based targets being set, it will be important for companies to keep in mind that SBTs require concerted action on scope 3 value chain emissions, and to ensure that they are consciously preparing for this," says Franziska Sinner, Senior Director of Climate Strategies at South Pole.
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Isabel Hagbrink, Senior Director of Global Communications, South Pole - i.hagbrink@southpole.com
South Pole is a leading climate project consultant and solutions provider.
Since its founding in 2006, South Pole has developed and provided climate finance to over 850 projects in more than 50 countries. Together, they have helped reduce over 200 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions, and provided measurable benefits to communities vulnerable to climate change. South Pole's projects accelerate the transformation across all sectors, including across sustainable land-use, ecosystem conservation, circular economy, and renewable energy.
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