From the top 100 brands identified as having a positive sustainability reputation, more than a third are automotive brands, reveals a report led by data and consulting company Kantar and Saïd Business School, Oxford University.

The report, the first in its kind in mapping online conversation and forecasting UK consumer sustainability  trends against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), identifies that where brands are mentioned in online content, hybrid and electric car brands are most prominent because of the positive sentiment around automotive innovation. Volvo, Hyundai and Volkswagen dominate the top three spots in the UK digital sustainability index.

The energy and utility firms account for 16% of the top 100 brands, while tech and telecoms brands account for 13%. Retailers follow closely behind accounting for 12%.

Beyond the overall ranking, Kantar Issue rad also ranks brands according to how they are regarded for each UN SDG, for example Whole Foods leads the way in ‘good health & wellbeing’ while Netflix is at the top spot in ‘gender equality’ followed by Dior and L’Oréal.

“If they aren’t already, the UN SDGs need to become core to the brand and innovation strategy of every company on the planet. In 2020 we have seen the rise of the Citizen Consumer. Increasingly they are making choices based on sustainability-led criteria and the performance of brands against these criteria,” says managing partner at Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice, Jonathan Hall.

“Better addressing consumers’ sustainability concerns will support businesses‘ own business growth goals and have a profound impact on achieving the UN’s SDGs; the most important challenges we face in our lifetime.”

Alongside Issue Radar, Kantar and Saïd today also announce Hypertrends a new approach to prediction that identifies interconnections across disparate data sets and identifies and rationalises why trends are becoming central to consumer decision making.