What is Sustainable Marketing?

We only have one planet and the Earth's resources are finite. The Problem is, we're using them much faster than they can be replenished and some, like unpolluted land, fossil fuels and the thousands of plant and animal species going extinct each year, will never be replenished. If the Earth's ecosystem was a bank account we'd be seriously overdrawn!

Living beyond the limits of the planet is the reason for environmental degradation, climate change and many of the humanitarian crises in poorer nations as they struggle with scare resources like clean water, habitable land, food and energy.

The further we stretch these scare resources, the more uncomfortable life will become for those in the developed world and the harder it will become for those in some developing countries to survive at all. In short, the situation is unsustainable.

Some businesses had been reluctant to tackle the issue as the sustainability agenda was felt to be a threat to profitability and business growth. But that paradigm no longer holds and sustainability is fast becoming the most critical business issue since industrialisation.

In a business context, sustainable development means taking a triple bottom line approach so that the business measures its success not just on financial performance, but on its environmental and social performance too. The goal: to meet the needs of this generation without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

So where does marketing fit into the equation?

Fuller defines sustainable marketing as:

"The process of planning, implementing and controlling the development, pricing, promotion and distribution of products in a manner that satisfies the followingthree criteria:

(1) customer needs are met
(2) organisational goals are attained, and
(3) the process is compatible with ecosystems." 2

Sustainable marketing is the contribution that the marketing profession can make to sustainable development.

Brundlland Commission Report, World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987