Sustainability is no longer seen as a nice to have but essential to both business resilience and long-term success. In today's rapidly evolving and challenging economic, political and regulatory landscape its essential that organisations focus on what's within their control, close to the business and addressing business-critical challenges. Sustainability is most impactful when it benefits people, the planet and your business.
At Mangrove, we connect commercial performance and sustainability impact, building practical solutions that future-proof businesses. We help improve sustainability performance: turning ambition into outcomes that support growth, resilience, cost and innovation.
While sustainability is not new news when it comes to businesses, the way it has been understood and applied to business context has evolved - and continues to evolve - significantly.
of sustainability leaders say its strategic importance has maintained or increased in the past 18 months. Mangrove's 'Sustainability Now' 2026 report
Sustainability 1.0
Aspiration
Idealistic ambitions lacking grounding in data.
Sustainability 2.0
Resilience
Where most companies sit today - sustainability built into businesses but with some disconnection.
Sustainability 3.0
Innovation
Sustainability as a driver of value, growth and commerce in businesses.
In its earliest iterations, Sustainability 1.0, was defined by optics and idealism. Sustainability work was well-intentioned, made up of big ideas and often over-zealous ambitions that could rarely be met due to it being underpowered and unrealistic.
In the last few years, faced with serious external threats to longevity, security of supply and more, sustainability has shifted into phase 2.0, a new era where resilience is key, and making an impact while increasing value is front of mind for leaders. Companies have begun to work out how sustainability can become part of the commercial objectives of a business, from supply-chains, to brand love to cost-efficiency and beyond. But making this transition has not been straightforward. And for 2/3 of respondents, the biggest barrier for sustainability performance still remains commercial & strategic alignment.
Still, there are reasons to be optimistic. We're seeing that the companies who 'do' sustainability in a way that stands out, treat it as much more than a compliance function, and more even than an approach to business resilience. For these companies, sustainability is a lever for growth and innovation, and a point of view that breathes long term hope into businesses with optimism and a vision that lets companies survive - and even thrive - in the long run.
Businesses can't afford to standstill, or remain stuck in an era of sustainability promises and ambition, now is the time for action.
"Standing still in today's sustainability landscape isn't maintaining status quo, it's actively falling behind."
BAU won't work anymore. The cost of inaction is rising:
Competitive lag
Those embedding sustainability into growth and innovation are moving ahead, leaving late movers struggling to catch up.
Greenwashing exposure
Without proof and action, bold claims will backfire.
Regulatory and stakeholder pressure
The compliance bar continues to rise and penalties for falling behind are real.
Reputation, resilience, talent at risk
Sustainability is now a marker of trust & leadership. Brands that stall risk losing customers, consumers, investors, and employees.
Sustainability strategy and target setting
Reducing complexity while retaining measurable, outcome-led commitments that support accountability and confidence.
Portfolio and investment choices
Aligning leadership on clear choices about future ambition, strategic direction and the role sustainability plays in the business, and giving teams a clear rationale for integrating it into everyday decisions.
Embedding sustainability in commercial strategy and internal & investor communication/engagement
Linking priorities to risk, cost, growth and trust. Creating a shared understanding, ownership and momentum across markets and business functions.
Sustainability, brands and consumers
Shaping a credible narrative that builds relevance with consumers and protects trust and brand equity to drive growth.
Sustainability driven innovation
Embedding sustainability as a driver of breakthrough innovation.
Partnerships to drive scale, speed and reduce investment
Identifying where suppliers, peers and other partners can help deliver priority outcomes at scale.
Sustainability is most impactful when it benefits people, the planet and your business. We help bridge the gap between commercial performance and sustainability impact, building practical solutions that future-proof businesses.
We typically work with clients to solve challenges across:
Aligning ambition & commitment
Sharpening ambition by uniting businesses around focused goals that accelerate meaningful impact.
Real-world engagement
Translating corporate goals into customer and consumer centric plans that engage real people.
Mobilising teams
Embedding sustainability across the business: in daily operations and through every role.
Sustainability
Sustainability & Business Strategy
Aligning sustainability & the business
A sustainability strategy should flow from the business strategy, not run alongside it.
We help leaders embed sustainability into business strategy: aligning ambition and commitment, focusing goals where they matter, building a commercially anchored business case and embedding accountability.
The result is a sustainability strategy that shapes everyday decisions, not one that sits on the side.
Sustainability
Sustainability & Innovation
Impact via innovation
Innovation is one of the most practical levers for turning sustainability ambition into value.
We help teams embed sustainability into innovation strategy, find the opportunities where resilience, risk reduction and growth meet, and develop propositions that can scale commercially.
Designed in up front, sustainability becomes a driver of better ideas rather than a constraint added at the end.
Sustainability
Sustainability, Brands & Consumers
Brand & consumer advantage
Sustainability builds brand equity when it's a proxy for something a brand already stands for.
We help work out the role sustainability should play for your brand, connect it to what the brand already stands for and make sure every claim is backed by real action.
That means knowing what to quietly get on with, and what your brand could become famous for.
Mangrove is a commercially minded strategy and innovation consultancy. For more than 25 years, we've worked with senior FMCG teams on innovation, brand and growth challenges, and we bring that same commercial lens to sustainability.
We work where sustainability and commercial performance meet. That means helping businesses move from sustainability promises to action, and from ESG targets and reporting to a sustainability strategy that improves performance: growth, resilience, cost and innovation.
We walk the talk. Mangrove is a certified B Corp, so we know first-hand what it takes to build sustainability into how a business is run.
Our 'Sustainability Now' 2026 report gives us a current view of what's holding sustainability performance back, and what the businesses that stand out are doing differently.
We're a diverse team of commercially minded strategists and innovators united by a set of shared principles:
Small, senior & experienced team
We're always seeking the edge in ourselves & our clients, working closely with senior leaders.
Commercial & sustainability expertise in one place
We speak the language of the business and sustainability.
Collaborative & pragmatic
We make things happen with you, tactically picking the right bits to get the engine running faster.
Candour over comfort
Bravely saying what's needed for the best outcomes.
We understand consumers and brands
We know where and how sustainability can play the right role for brands and consumers.
ESG (environmental, social and governance) is the more technical side: setting goals, measuring progress and reporting performance to investors, regulators and other stakeholders. Sustainability is the broader opportunity: how a business is set up to perform for the future, through growth, resilience, cost management and innovation.
At Mangrove, we see ESG as the scorecard and sustainability as the strategy. Both matter, and they work best together. But reporting on its own rarely changes how a business performs; that comes from building sustainability into the choices the business makes every day.
Mangrove is a sustainability strategy consultancy focused on sustainability performance. We help FMCG businesses connect sustainability to commercial performance, embedding it into business strategy, innovation and brands.
We don't specialise in ESG reporting or compliance. Instead, we work alongside it: helping make the ESG goals and commitments a business has already set work harder commercially, so they shape the decisions that drive growth, resilience and cost.
Yes. Mangrove is a certified B Corp, meeting B Lab's standards for social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
Going through B Corp certification ourselves means we understand what it takes to build sustainability into how a business is run, not just what it reports. It's also why we believe sustainability and commercial performance belong together: being a B Corp is part of how we run Mangrove, and that first-hand experience shapes how we help clients embed sustainability into their own strategy, innovation and brands.
Usually because sustainability sits as a satellite function rather than being built into the business strategy. In Mangrove's 'Sustainability Now' 2026 report, 82% of sustainability leaders said they do not speak the same language as the wider business, and only 15% felt sustainability functions have strong influence over strategic decisions.
The fix is to make sustainability flow from the corporate strategy, not run alongside it, and to translate it into the terms the business already uses: risk, cost, growth and trust.
A strong business case for sustainability translates sustainability outcomes into financial terms leaders already use, such as ROI, margin, risk reduction and growth. Without that, sustainability rarely influences commercial decisions: 85% of leaders in our 2026 research said sustainability outcomes are not regularly quantified in financial terms.
We help clients be clear on the non-negotiable floor, where to stretch in support of the growth agenda, and how to articulate a decision-ready case that leaders can own and champion internally.
Leaders take sustainability seriously when it is aligned with commercial goals and framed as a lever for growth, not just a cost or compliance issue. That starts with closing the gap between what leaders aspire to and what the business will actually resource.
Agreeing direction before cost debates derail it, focusing on outcomes linked to business value, and making clear who owns what all help make sustainability commercially credible internally.
Because it is often added at the end of the process rather than designed in from the start. Up to 80% of a product's environmental impact is determined at the design stage, so the biggest gains come from embedding sustainability into innovation strategy, briefs and business models up front.
Done well, sustainability becomes a 'beautiful constraint' that drives creativity rather than compromise.
For most consumers, sustainability is a secondary influence rather than the primary reason to buy, and there is a well-known 'say-do gap' between what people say and what they choose. It rarely supports a reliable price premium, and it isn't equally relevant for every brand. It lands best when it's a proxy for something the brand already stands for, such as provenance, care, quality or value, and when it's backed by real, verifiable action.
We use a simple 'Mangrove' principle: always do more 'below the waterline' than you communicate 'above the waterline'. That protects against greenwashing and focuses consumer-facing sustainability communication on the activities your brand could become famous for.
In a world of rapidly accelerating sustainability legislation, we’ve been reminded that it’s still the consumer who holds most of the cards. Recent events in dairy and automotive show what happens when brands push change faster than consumers are willing to follow.
Apple’s annual iPhone launch cycle is a masterclass in confusing consumer wants with consumer needs. Their latest Product Environmental Report looks good on paper, but it completely ignores the environmental cost of the cycle itself.
Benchmarking is rarely an uplifting experience. But this week we were reminded of something more specific: how easy it is to draw completely the wrong conclusions when you’re not comparing apples with apples.
Sustainability has slipped down the CEO priority list as AI takes centre stage. But the real opportunity isn’t to choose between them – it’s to bring them together. The potential wins for sustainability from smart AI application are enormous.
There’s a growing view that businesses have been chasing the wrong sustainability goal. Being sustainable – doing less harm – may no longer be enough. The new ambition is to become regenerative: actively restoring people, places and the planet.
Is that EV charging in the garage really better for the environment? What about that mattress you’re lying on? As sustainability-driven innovation uncovers more uncomfortable truths, brands face a tricky question: how much should you tell consumers before you’ve fixed the problem?
If your sustainability strategy feels disconnected from the business, it has too many priorities or simply needs to evolve or you're ready to make it a lever for growth, resilience and innovation, we'd be happy to chat further.
