Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives should be front-of-mind for businesses today. If they’re not, there’s still time, but the clock is ticking.

“ESG should be thought of as compliance, or as risk mitigation. No one will have a choice soon. It will be as enmeshed in business as balance sheets.” This quote from Errol Schweizer at a panel discussion during Natural Products Expo West in March has been bouncing around in my head for a bit now. In my opinion, people who read this column should take pause to think about that too.

NielsenIQ and McKinsey & Company recently conducted a joint study examining sales growth for products that claim to be environmentally and socially responsible. The companies published their report, titled “Consumers care about sustainability—and back it up with their wallets,” in February of this year.

The first paragraph of the report sets the table well: “Total US consumer spending accounts for over $14 trillion annually and two-thirds of the US GDP. An important subset of this spending goes toward everyday consumer packaged goods (CPG), ranging from foods and beverages to cosmetics and cleaning products. The sheer size of the CPG sector—with millions of employees and trillions of dollars in annual sales—makes it a critical component in efforts to build a more sustainable, inclusive economy.”

As the U.S. dietary supplement industry exceeds $60 billion in annual sales, its size and scale also warrant more attention to sustainability and inclusivity. It’s also smart business practice if you want your brand to last, and consumers to keep buying your products.

NielsenIQ found 78% of U.S. consumers say that a sustainable lifestyle is important to them. Yet many CPG executives report one challenge to their companies’ ESG initiatives is the inability to generate sufficient consumer demand for these products. There are many stories of companies launching new products incorporating ESG-related claims only to find that sales fell short of expectations. These are challenging waters to navigate.

The NielsenIQ/McKinsey report is worth reviewing to understand consumer perception of ESG claims. However, please take note: There is no space or time for greenwashing.

For companies in the herbal/botanical market, it’s also in your best interest to review the Sustainability & Regenerative Practices Toolkit from the Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP), which operates under the auspices of the American Botanical Council (ABC).

The recently-updated toolkit is a collection of resources to help people understand and implement ecologically and socially responsible practices in the botanical industry.

We’ve seen how vulnerable supply chains can be, and as climate change impacts growing seasons and yields for common plant species, as well as the communities and countries that are essential parts of the value chain, the time to plan for the future was yesterday. But there’s no time to start like today.