Trends in sustainability - what and how much are companies investing in? Survey report

The transition to a circular economy is inevitable - these are the conclusions of the latest Interzero study Businesses in the circular economy: a detailed analysis. The green transformation of companies is not only enforced by legislation. It is also expected by customers, investors and financial institutions. The best way to set the right course for change is to work with an environmental consultancy.

From the survey Businesses in the circular economy: a detailed analysis shows that a significant Most companies want to implement sustainable initiatives or have already started doing sos. Such declarations were made by 71.1 to 84.9% managers representing medium and large companies from 6 European countries.

Companies in the FMCG (81%) and electronics (82%) sectors stand out as the most active in this respect. For this group of companies, the implementation of circular solutions is no longer considered in the context of competitive advantage - the it becomes necessary in order to maintain its current position on the market.

The situation is slightly different for companies in the construction, retail and logistics sectors, where the drive to make the idea of a circular economy a reality is declared by just over 60% of respondents. From their perspective, making green changes stay ahead of the competition, create and control industry trends and gain the trust of new groups of customers and investors.

What budget do medium and large companies allocate to sustainability? In which activities do they most often invest? Download the survey report and discover the latest trends in sustainability! 

Despite the implementation of further sustainable initiatives, significant the majority of companies surveyed are still a long way from achieving the goals of Agenda 2030 - considered the 'easiest' non-financial reporting target to implement has only been achieved by 20.5% respondents, while the 'most difficult' carbon neutrality target has only 15.7% respondents on track.

This state of affairs, as it were, forces companies to seek advisory support. Researched companies were almost unanimous in their desire to use an environmental consulting firm and to entrust it with strategic, management and operational tasks.

Managers of large and medium-sized companies declared that the introduction of sustainable measures can benefit their companies in the following ways:
- reducing the amount of waste generated (and consequently reducing waste management costs),
- increase the efficiency of the company's operations,
- to meet the growing expectations of customers, financial institutions and investors,
- adapting to prevailing industry trends.

However, the authors of the padding emphasise that for real benefits to be realised, it is necessary to implement changes based on concrete data and measurements. Otherwise, companies risk misdirecting investments. Assessing the environmental performance of products, services and the organisation as a whole was declared by only 35.5% of the companies surveyed. Some of the companies surveyed stated that they did not have any useful data or research to create a strategy for their organisation's sustainability efforts.

These figures clearly indicate not only the need for research and development work, but also the need for ongoing cooperation with a consulting entity like Interzero as an experienced partner specialising in sustainability.

Given the huge impact of sustainability activities on the perception of a company by all its stakeholders, companies seeking advisory support are guided by a number of concretised criteria.

• One of the most common criteria is the possibility of adapting the services offered to the specific nature of the business. Many entrepreneurs have experienced the difficulty or even impossibility of implementing off-the-shelf, unmodified solutions into their business models.
• Equally important is wide range consulting firm. Respondents particularly value availability of comprehensive, integrated environmental services and the opportunity to receive advice in other areas, not necessarily related to sustainability.
• A key criterion is also good reputation of the environmental consultancy.

As environmental consultants, we understand these expectations of entrepreneurs very well. At Interzero, we have been developing customised, integrated services for over 30 years in the field of environmental protection for companies of all sizes and from all sectors. We offer comprehensive environmental consultancy, training, audits, and we provide tailor-made solutions for sustainability, recycling, waste management and waste machinery. We support businesses in meeting their legal environmental obligations and in the implementation of a circular economy. We are already trusted by more than 9,500 entities - find out more about our environmental services and join the customers with whom we are pursuing a shared vision of a world without waste.

Six countries were analysed: Italy, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. The objectives of the study were: to understand and analyse market trends in sustainability and the circular economy, to explore potential barriers to the implementation of sustainable practices, to examine the main sustainability needs in the medium and large enterprise sector, to analyse the readiness of these enterprises to move towards more sustainable business models.

The data analysed in the course of the study came from company press releases, newspaper and magazine articles and sustainability reports, as well as from interviews conducted with top executives representing the companies under study