How to Reframe Sustainability Through the Lens of Brand Strategy
Sustainability is dead.
That’s quite a provocative statement, we know.
Sustainability is one of the key issues that our clients at The Future Laboratory continually ask us about, especially as sustainability narratives are facing growing scepticism and fatigue in a post-greenwashing world.
Businesses must still address these issues as political discourse and legislation intensify. So we’re re-invigorating the conversation because its language is tired. Its purpose feels unclear. Its identity is fragmented across regions and audiences. As a result, its experience is often forgettable.
Published by: 
26 February 2026
Author: The Future Laboratory
Image: AI imagery by The Future Laboratory
Share
𝕏
The Future Laboratory and Arbor Communications are delighted to be collaborating on a new six-part report series: Rebranding Sustainability. We’re bringing to you a refreshed perspective that combines forward-thinking intelligence with actionable insights, delivering on our promise to empower clients with confidence and strategies for the future.
So is sustainability really dead? The concept of sustainability as we know it may be outdated – even proving counter-productive. If sustainability were a brand, it would be overdue for a rebranding.
Like any good rebranding, what’s needed is a reimagining from the inside out (not a superficial refresh).
‘From savvy ownership to localised luxury, brands are reframing how they position sustainability. This report explores a shift in consumer sentiment, from need states to values-based exchanges. Real behaviour change happens when doing better feels good, and the better choice feels like the obvious one’
Fiona Harkin, director of foresight, The Future Laboratory
Our Rebranding Sustainability report is broken down into six core reports that reframe sustainability through the lens of brand strategy. If sustainability were a product, how would you rebrand it? What would you keep? What would you kill?
This series will give you and your business a framework to confidently reimagine your positioning, marketing and value in this space, and show how to communicate it in ways that are timely, desirable and commercially smart.
The Six Reports
‘Eco-fatigue and greenwashing scepticism dominate, and ‘sustainability’ has come to mean so much that it means little at all. It is increasingly unlikely that sustainability, in its current incarnation, will ever be a compelling enough story to change consumer behaviour’
Stephanie Turner, founder, Arbor CommunicationsAs an idea and a language of its own, sustainability as we know it is dead. A new approach is needed that changes the language for a positioning and narrative reset, reflecting today’s blended physical and digital realities. This report explores three sustainability values ripe for rebranding: Invisibility, Proactive Luxury and Future Legacy.
Some things are meant to last. Others are meant to disappear. As industries phase out wasteful systems, extinction becomes an innovation opportunity. Reshaping materials, ownership and circularity now define the next era. Learn how to design for extinction, from planned obsolescence and branding for ever to circularity as an investment magnet.
The third report in our Rebranding Sustainability series looks at how localisation can become a powerful marketing tool and a meaningful sustainability strategy in one. Both for business resilience and as a powerful message, knowing exactly where, why and for whom something was made is a sustainability strategy.
What a brand feels like matters as much as, if not more than, what it says. It isn’t messaging but experiences and spaces that drive trust. In a post-verbal, post-greenwashing world, sustainability must be felt to be believed. This report looks at how to make sustainability real: something tactile that you see, feel and move through – no longer a campaign or a statement, but a designed environment.
Nature doesn’t start over, it adapts. When marketing budgets are squeezed while consumer expectations rise, we argue for evolution over reinvention, and how mimicking nature’s intelligence can guide smarter, more resilient marketing. After all, a brand’s sustainability stories shouldn’t need to start from scratch. They can evolve in public, layer by layer.
The final section of the report captures how tomorrow’s consumers will integrate sustainability into their lives. Delve into the life of a Material Minimalist and other future typologies outlined by guest contributors and sustainability experts.
Navigating the landscape of sustainability is a persistent challenge we solve alongside our clients. In an era when consumer trust is low and regulatory stakes are high, a new strategic approach isn’t just an option, it’s essential. This series provides the framework for that shift.
Speak to us today to explore how you can apply the strategic opportunities and implications.
Want to read more?
Become a member today!
Sign up to one of our subscribtion packages and get unlimited access to a hive of insights - from microtrends and macro trends to market reports, daily news, research across eight industry sectors and much more.
Discover our memberships
Already a member? Click here to login
