Environment


SHUUUT UP!


HEARD OF ‘GREENHUSH’ YET? YOUR CUSTOMERS PROBABLY HAVE, AND AN INCREASING AMOUNT WILL BE DOING IT. SO HOW DO YOU TALK TO THEM ABOUT SUSTAINABLE CHOICES?


“Sustainability is more than just a green buzzword [and], with regard to the finite nature of fossil resources and the devastating effects of the CO2 emissions of the leading industrial nations, [it is] a necessary and central aspect of long-term and future-oriented corporate strategies.” That, in slightly clunky English (hence the use of square brackets) is the environmental gospel according to Drupa. And the organisers of the biggest printing exhibition on this endangered planet are not wrong. Far from it. Apart from a lunatic fringe, there is a general agreement, especially among scientists, that unless we - as individuals, businesses, organisations and governments - change course dramatically, catastrophic climate change will be inevitable. Nobody can predict when this apocalypse will occur, but it will look like the mother of all Hollywood disaster movies, albeit with one crucial difference - it will be real.


The urgent optimism required to avoid this doom-laden scenario is certainly present, but unevenly distributed. The pre-show briefings for Drupa show that the industry’s suppliers are probably more committed to sustainability


14 | June/July 2024


THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN RHETORIC AND REALITY IS PARTICULARLY ACUTE IN THE UK


than ever, representing a major step change since 2016, when the last actual (as opposed to virtual) show was held in Dusseldorf. Some print clients - especially publicly quoted companies such as Marks & Spencer, which launched its eco-strategy Plan A in 2007 - have walked the walk, as indeed have an enlightened number of print service providers. Unfortunately, even as the risks of catastrophe mount,


many companies are backtracking on their sustainability pledges. Raffi Scheir, the Canadian entrepreneur behind the organisation Prevented Ocean Plastic, says this trend began during Covid lockdown, when many companies either postponed or watered down their commitments, believing that regulators and consumers were looking the other way because of the pandemic. Inevitably, this seriously disrupted the system for recycling and reclaiming plastics. In his view, businesses need to make long term-commitments to build a “true and stable demand” and create incentives for people and companies to collect much of the - by his estimate - $100bn in plastic that is just lying on the ground. Even as economies reopened for business, that trend continued. In February this year, two of the world’s largest owners of corporate assets, JP Morgan and State Street, withdrew from a business alliance called Climate Action 100, while BlackRock, which had been particularly forceful in holding public companies to account over the environment, distanced itself from the coalition. None of the investment funds mentioned politics


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