In eastern King County, a mountainside forest holds an unlikely approach to sustainability and ecological restoration. There, a decades-long project converts poop into profit, yielding bigger trees and potentially lowering taxes.
This weekend’s read is a report from the consultant firm McKinsey looking at U.S. companies’ claims about their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives and whether consumers care enough to make different buying decisions. We know from past studies that consumers say they care about companies’ ESG commitments, but there has been very little data on whether they actually buy different products because of them. In 2020, 60% of consumers said they would pay more for a product with sustainable packaging. Likewise, in a recent study, 78% of consumers said a sustainable lifestyle is important to them. But do they back their principles up with their wallets?