On the latest episode of the State of Sustainability, host Saif Hameed discusses the "wholesale functional shift" and organisational overhaul that defined 2025, where sustainability teams were frequently moved under procurement or legal departments to address supply chain resilience and compliance. Saif also highlights a "general demotion" of the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), noting that many of these roles have transitioned from reporting directly to the CEO to sitting deeper within the executive chain. This structural change is accompanied by a growing demand for harder technical skills - such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and data science - as companies move away from generalist roles to focus on carbon as their primary, and often solitary, metric.

Looking toward 2026, Saif offers a "cynical realist" outlook, predicting a continued "sustainability freeze" and "green hushing" where companies talk less about their achievements while reducing budgets and incremental initiatives. He anticipates a massive vendor shakeout among distressed software and consultancy providers, alongside a significant "retrenchment" of 2030 climate targets as businesses realize many of their original goals were aspirational rather than achievable. Despite these challenges, Saif emphasises that supplier-specific carbon data is becoming "table stakes" for procurement and that actual progress is being made at a much larger scale than a decade ago.

To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.

This time Saif speaks with Buffy CEO Leo Wang about how the bedding brand successfully built a sustainable product while pivoting its market message away from environmentalism toward consumer concerns about safety, comfort, and performance.

Key Takeaways:
• Initial Intent vs. Market Reality: Buffy began around 2017/2018 with the idea that the mass consumer was ready for bedding informed by sustainability values, but mass distribution quickly showed that leading with this message alienated customers.
• Safety and Trust as the Wedge: For many North American consumers, "sustainability" often translates to concerns about safety and trust, focusing on whether a product is safe for the household and family, rather than purely environmental impact.
• The Sugar Pill Strategy: Buffy intentionally "architected" its product to be highly sustainable (the "medicine") but prioritized performance and comfort messaging (the "candy") so the broad audience would unknowingly buy the ethical product.
• Performance is Paramount: Consumers often exhibit weariness toward sustainability claims, worrying that ethical products will be less soft, "crunchy," or defective compared to traditional alternatives, making performance an overriding purchase criterion.
• Sustainability as Table Stakes: Deep sustainability has become "table stakes" for D2C brands - a basic check mark that assures the consumer they are not a bad person by buying the product, but not a primary purchase differentiator.
• Distribution Demands: Distribution channels, including mass retail and digital advertising, force businesses to appeal to the "least common denominators" of consumer criteria, making financial stability and consistency critical over expensive, deep-seated ethical claims that customers rarely absorb.

To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

The State of Sustainability Podcast is where we unpack the topics and trends of corporate sustainability, hosted by Saif Hameed, Founder and CEO of Altruistiq.
This time, Saif takes the mic solo to dive into a topic that - according to former Starbucks CSO Michael Kobori - is about to become everyone’s priority: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.

In this episode, Saif unpacks his "hot takes" on EPR that you won't find in standard reports. He explores:

• The rise of EPR: How a concept once dismissed by the "Jesuits of capitalism" as fantasy has evolved into hard law across Europe and the US.
• The hidden drivers: Why cash-strapped municipalities and visceral consumer concerns about waste are accelerating these schemes faster than traditional ESG regulations.
• The compliance headache: The complexity of navigating fragmented global schemes and the "who watches the watchers" problem regarding Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) and their conflicts of interest.
• The market reaction: How the "fruit flies" of the corporate ecosystem (consultancies and software providers) are swarming to solve the data burden.
• The opportunity for circularity: Moving beyond the "tax" mentality to a model where brands actually get their materials back - improving durability and reducing costs.

Rather than viewing EPR simply as a cost of doing business or a funding mechanism for waste collection, Saif makes the case for a strategic shift - where forward-thinking companies use these schemes to close the loop on their own products, driving true additionality and system change.

To find out more about what we do at Altruistiq, visit Altruistiq.com

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.