Analysis – 2026 Edition
Going into 2026 and beyond, most people working in sustainability are asking themselves the same questions:
These are big questions, and in this 2026 edition of the Sustainable Brand Index, we aim to answer them. We've analyzed 1,600 brands across 36 industries to map out the new reality.
Enjoy the read.
/Erik
Chapter 1
The Trough of Disillusionment
Or: Is Sustainability Going Out of Fashion?
Consumer interest in sustainability has remained stable for six consecutive years. At the same time, we see that the stated impact of sustainability on buying behaviours has gone down year by year. Even though interest is high, people have their own lives to worry about and other things that they deem as more pressing. On top of this, we have politicians retracting sustainability plans, legislation being pulled back and a world full of conflicts and instability. We have officially entered the Trough of Disillusionment for sustainability.
From a pure brand and communications perspective, all the "low-hanging fruit" has been picked. Recycled packaging, hotel towel policies, and EV chargers are no longer innovations – they are background noise. If you expect these to drive brand preference in 2026, you are already behind.
"Sustainability hasn't become unimportant. It has become a hygiene factor. It's no longer a competitive advantage – it's the price of entry.
"
Chapter 2
The Evolution of Marketing: The Three Eras
To understand where we are in 2026, we must look at how the relationship between sustainability and marketing has evolved. The roles brands have taken on over the years have contributed to the situation we are in today. From the Green Era, when brands communicated green values and initiatives left and right, to the Purpose Era, where all brands wore capes. No wonder consumers are a disillusioned...
The Green Era
- The Logic
- "Eco-friendly" was a status symbol.
- The Driver
- Consumers paid a "green tax" for organic or local goods.
- The Winners
- Niche pioneers like Saltå Kvarn and Urtekram.
The Purpose Era
- The Logic
- Brands became activists. Marketing led the charge.
- The Driver
- Storytelling over substance.
- The Winners
- Activist brands like Oatly, campaign-driven giants like Nike.
The Resiliency Era
- The Logic
- Resource optimization. Sustainability merged with common sense.
- The Driver
- Wasting energy or materials is simply bad management.
- The Winners
- Functional, reliable brands like Lidl, Vattenfall, Grumme.
Chapter 3
From "Planet" to "People"
The biggest shift in what consumers actually care about
While environmental topics are backsliding across every market we measure, social and democratic issues are rising sharply. This isn't a blip – it represents a fundamental reorientation of what "responsibility" means to consumers in 2026.
The Reality
Consumers aren't ignoring the climate; they are simply exhausted by it.
The Reaction
We are seeing "consumer-led greenhushing," where the environment is no longer an acute news item but a baseline expectation.
The New Focus
Concerns over democracy, polarization, and social safety are filling the void left by climate discourse.
Environmental issues used to be the strongest driver of preference. This has now shifted dramatically. Social responsibility (how companies treat employees, fair pricing, and social behaviour) has overtaken the environment and almost doubled its impact on brand preference. Many companies have invested heavily in climate goals but underinvested in social issues, creating a dangerous blind spot.
"In a crisis, your "Social Responsibility" – how you treat employees and your role in the community – is twice as likely to drive brand preference as your environmental record.
"
Chapter 4
The Asymmetry of Risk: Why "Good" Isn't Good Enough
This year, we have performed an extensive analysis of the years 2014–2026, our 5 countries, and 1,400 brands, to examine the relationship between two metrics:
- –How responsible and sustainable consumers perceive a brand.
- –Net brand preference and recommendation intent.
The results are of the highest business value!
The Good Years (up to 2014–2020): Sustainability worked as a brand differentiator. The model was simple: do good, communicate it, win brand preference.
The Crisis Years (from 2022–ongoing): The structural break. Sustainability shifted from a differentiator to a hygiene factor. The upside reward shrank. The downside punishment grew. Consumer criticism became significantly more predictive of brand preference loss than praise was of brand preference gain.
The data reveals a brutal new reality. During the "Good Years" (pre-2022), sustainability was a bonus – it lifted your brand. Today, it is a baseline. Failing on sustainability now sinks a brand faster than succeeding lifts it.
Brands with declining sustainability perception since 2022
Negative responsibility → preference loss correlation
Positive responsibility → preference gain correlation
Sustainability perception functions as a leading indicator for growth, rather than a lagging effect of communication.
- Predictive Power: Rising criticism of a company's responsibility predicts a tangible drop in consumer preference with a 1–2 year lead time.
- Commercial Debt: Companies retreating today may not see the impact in immediate sales figures, but they are building a debt that will require settlement within 24 months.
"Sustainability has stopped being a differentiator. It has become a licence to operate. Brands that fall below the responsibility floor are not just taking reputational damage – they are losing customers.
"
This is why statements like "sustainability is going out of fashion" are stupid. Fashion implies something optional, a trend you engage with or step back from depending on where the cultural wind is blowing. What our data describes is not fashion. It is closer to what happened to product quality in the 1980s, or to safety standards in the 1990s. Those things stopped being differentiators and became table stakes. Consumers stopped rewarding brands for having them and started punishing brands for lacking them. That is exactly what is happening to sustainability right now. It is becoming structural.
"Sustainability is not going out of fashion. What is happening is considerably more important: it is becoming structural. And structural things don't go out of fashion. They just quietly determine who wins and who loses.
"
Pause and reflect
Where does your brand sit in this new reality?
Is sustainability still your differentiator – or has it already become a floor you're standing on? Are you building commercial debt, or investing in resilience?
The Path Forward: The Slope of Enlightenment
Stop "Selling" Sustainability
Solve 2026 problems, not 2050 fantasies. Lidl doesn't market itself as a "sustainable grocer" – it offers affordable, resource-efficient products. That's why it's climbing while purpose-first brands stall.
Business-Driven Sustainability
If your strategy doesn't optimize your business model or lower your risk, it's fluff. Vattenfall integrates sustainability into its core energy proposition – not as a side campaign, but as the product itself.
Radical Integration
Sustainability should be invisible. It should be baked into the value proposition so thoroughly that the consumer doesn't have to "choose" to be good – they just have to choose to be smart. Grumme is a textbook case: eco-friendly cleaning that sells on price and performance, not guilt.
Measure What Matters
Track your sustainability perception as a leading indicator, not a lagging report. If your Resiliency Index is declining, you have 12–24 months before it shows up in preference data. The time to act is before the numbers confirm what consumers already feel.
Resilience Is the New Gold
Major brands, like Apple, Google, H&M, ICA, McDonald's, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, Coop, Marabou, Burger King, ZARA and scores of others, are now simultaneously declining in both sustainability perception and brand preference.
But the story isn't all decline. Brands like Lidl, Vattenfall, Grumme, and Systembolaget are rising on both axes – proof that integrating sustainability into the core business model builds durable consumer trust.
Sustainability is no longer a communication issue; it is a risk management issue. If consumers perceive that your responsibility is wavering, confidence in your entire business will follow.