Motivating Sustainable Behaviors in Businesses

A familiar story plays out in boardrooms around the world: a sustainability lead walks into a quarterly meeting with a comprehensive plan that would cut the company’s carbon emissions, reduce reliance on raw resources, and phase out unsustainable suppliers. There is a strong business case for the overhaul: lower long-term costs, greater supply chain resilience, and better investor relationships. While the presentation is met with a few nods of approval, the proposed plan is ultimately postponed in favor of more “pressing” priorities. “Let’s revisit this next quarter” becomes “Let’s give it a year.” The idea quietly dissolves, business marches on as usual, and the future costs of climate inaction keep rising.

Despite many businesses recognizing the benefits of sustainability, few companies are actually putting it on the agenda. In a recent global survey, 83% of CEOs acknowledged that sustainability improvements could lead to better business outcomes over the next five years, but only 37% viewed it as a top priority for their business.¹ Even brands on the leading edge of sustainability are struggling to meet their goals.² This persistent green gap between intention and action is driven by several competing priorities, including the pressure to generate short-term profits, offer stakeholders immediately observable outcomes, manage complex supply chains, and maintain a competitive industry edge. These short-term priorities are given extra precedence over complex, long-term, and potentially costly sustainability goals due to psychological tendencies like short-term thinking, a bias toward the status quo, and diffusion of responsibility.

While boosting business sustainability is often seen as a technological or regulatory challenge, it is equally a behavioral issue. Research has revealed several cognitive biases that affect group-level decisions around sustainability.³ To address these motivational barriers, it’s crucial that we support structural solutions with a behavioral science perspective. This article explores cutting-edge sustainability solutions like behavioral nudges, gamification, real-time feedback loops, AI-driven dashboards, and commitment devices—all of which can motivate businesses to move beyond surface-level sustainability pledges and take concrete steps with real environmental benefits.