2019 sustainability update: 3 signs that we are moving towards a more sustainable future

This demonstration began with 15-year-old Swede Greta Thunberg, who started skipping class to sit outside government buildings in September, accusing her country of not following the Paris Climate Agreement. Since then, tens of thousands of school children have demonstrated across Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Australia.

Understandably anxious about the government’s lack of thought for future generations, those who will be forced to deal with the consequences of inaction are the school children, who are now demanding that more attention be paid to global warming in government policies.

The UK Student Climate Network helping to coordinate the protests have labelled four key demands:

1. A state of “climate emergency” should be declared by the government
2. The government should inform the public about the seriousness of the situation
3. The seriousness of the “ecological crisis” should be included in the national curriculum
4. The young should get a say in decision making around the environment by lowering the voting age to 16

 In response, Theresa May has said that striking school children were ‘wasting lesson time’, which may well be the case, but political leaders have also wasted countless precious years of inaction, we’ll let you decide what’s worse?.

Regardless of the government’s reaction, this fills us at Cariki with optimism for a sustainable future, as the young demonstrate that they are willing to take action and speak up for what they believe in. As this generation gains more influence over the coming years, they will not only be able to voice their concerns on more powerful political platforms, but their spending power will start to force more businesses to rethink their policies towards the environment.

• Scottish children strike 'to save planet'
• Hundreds protest in Cardiff
• Belfast rally calls for action

Iceland – an example of a would-be sustainable pioneer and the consequences of unfulfilled promises

One such business being forced to rethink their policy towards the environment is Iceland. Iceland has rightly come under a lot of criticism recently due to their attitude towards palm oil.

In April, Iceland supermarket announced it would remove 100% of palm oil from its own brand products by the end of 2018. They stated,

"The Iceland no palm oil pledge is that by the end of 2018, 100% of the supermarket's own label food lines will contain no palm oil, reducing demand for palm oil by more than 500 tonnes per year."

Since then, they have rightly continued to promote this, being publically celebrated in December for trying to create a Christmas advert highlighting how they are helping to protect orangutans in the wild by removing palm oil from all their own brand recipes.

Yet hardly a month later it was found in January 2019 that a number of products still contain the environmentally devastating liquid. Justifiably, this has caused public outcry and brought the company a lot of criticism.

Iceland claims they have been transparent with their messaging, aiming to remove palm oil only from their own brand labels. However, this seems to many something of a publicity stunt, designed to gain public approval with very little meaningful action behind it.

After celebrations in April around being the first supermarket to attempt to remove palm oil, continued public media campaigns promoting its removal, and a publicly applauded ad announcing its successful removal during the Christmas period, they have ultimately failed to deliver on their promises. Yet this isn’t all, their website even states that the company is “simply saying no to palm oil”.

It is hardly any wonder why many view this to have been a marketing stunt more than a deep seated desire to protect the environment. What makes matters worse is they continue to lie, spending weeks promising their customers that none of their own brand products contain palm oil and justifying its use by claiming they are just running through old stock.

For us, their true motivation for removing palm oil is starting to seem questionable. The BBC found 28 products for sale containing palm oil, and it seems that they are more concerned with moving their brand label from the packaging than the oil from the product, just take a look at what they are now selling instead...

Why is palm oil so devastating? It is said to have been responsible for about 8% of the world’s deforestation between 1990 and 2008, encourages farmers to burn vast swathes of forest to make space for palm oil trees, destroys natural ecosystems and decimating the population of native orangutans.

So why do we believe Iceland’s failure is so promising for the future of sustainability?

Very simply, it shows that large companies can no longer get away with making promises they cannot keep just to get public attention. It also shows the public now demand more, and that companies are being forced to respond. No matter their size, companies cannot get away with breaking their promises.

This event has also shown us that companies who are genuinely trying to make headway in the environmental space are being celebrated, which will likely encourage other brands to change their attitude in the hope of gaining free marketing and publicity.

BBC launches sustainable fashion and lifestyle brand

Here at Cariki, we are celebrating the launch of a new companion in the space of sustainable fashion and lifestyle.

The BBC have just launched their own responsible brand based on the success from its Blue Planet and Planet Earth series, attempting to capitalise on viewers inspired by presenter David Attenborough’s warnings about  the effect humans are having on the planet.

BBC Planet will be the umbrella brand selling eco-friendly clothing, homewares and books, designed to help those inspired to make more responsible consumption choices find sustainable alternatives more easily.

Blue Planet II, which highlights the scale of plastic pollution in the oceans, was the most watched British TV show in 2017 and has helped raise awareness around the critical state of the oceans across the globe. It has also had political ramifications, prompting environmental secretary Michael Gove to revisit recycling plans and ban plastic straws.  

We would love to work more closely with brands such as the BBC over the coming years, having recently partnered with BBC Introducing to help demonstrate that sustainable fashion can provide an alternative to music lovers everywhere.

We are now hoping that David Attenborough will release a series detailing the devastation caused by the fashion industry.