The 2026 Earth Overshoot Day is July 30.

In preparation for that, let’s look at the chart on this post which is the 2026 Earth Overshoot Date if everyone on the planet would consume as your country consumes.

As you can see from the chart, some countries are worse than others, but none are net-negative.

So, back to the global date of July 30 – What are you doing in honor of it, other than ignoring it?

Per the WWF, vertebrate species (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, bony fishes, cartilaginous fishes and jawless fishes) decreased in population by 73% between 1970 – 2020.

The annual rate of decline is 2.6%.  Net, this year, we are down to approximately 23.1% of the vertebrate species population we had in 1970.

By 2032 we will have lost over 80% of all vertebrate species population.

As many of you know, Edenark Group promotes a plant-based diet, due to the environmental cost and health risk of a meat diet.

Pretty soon, like it or not, you will be eating just plants too.

As we turn our attention to the second half of 2026….

Are You Doing All You Can to Grow Your Company?

HAVE YOU DONE EVERYTHING TO MAXIMIZE MARGINS?

Per Nielsen, a certified sustainable company, promoting same, enjoys a 5% year-on-year price increase.  Its non-sustainable competitors grow prices 1% year-on-year.

If you are not a certified sustainable company, and enjoying the promotional benefits of same, per Nielsen, you are leaving 4% on the table, year-on-year.

HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENTIATING YOUR BUSINESS?

Per MIT / BCG, the biggest challenge facing your business is competitive differentiation.

Per Cone / Ebiquity Global CSR, 84% of consumers seek companies that have differentiated by becoming certified sustainable.

Per Symbola, companies that have differentiated with our standard are growing 20x faster than their non-certified competitive peers.

If you are not certified sustainable, you are not growing as fast as your competitors who are?

HOW WILL YOU INFLUENCE THE LARGEST BUYING GROUP?

Per Forbes, the largest buying group (19 – 39 year olds) disbelieve 99% of all advertising that does not have 3^rd party verification/certification.

Further, per Forbes, before visiting a company or purchasing a product, they review a company’s environmental standing and 9 out of 10 (87%) of them will then purchase from, and remain loyal to, a company that has proven (certified) its environmental standing.

If your competitor becomes certified sustainable before you, you will lose market share.

WILL YOU BE A MARKET SHARE GIVER OR TAKER?

Per a number of studies/reports, including Unilever, there is a +$2 Trillion gap between consumers looking to move their business to certified sustainable organizations….and the availability of same.

This takes us back to the Symbola study showing that certified sustainable small to mid-sized businesses are growing 20x faster than their non-certified peers.

If you are not certified sustainable and a competitor becomes so, you will be a market share giver.

WILL YOU BE TOO BUSY TO TAKE BUSINESS FROM YOUR COMPETITORS?

Per an A. T. Kearney study, sustainable companies outperform their peers by 15%.

Yet, the top reason executives give for not pursuing sustainability is, “I’m too busy.”  

So, back to the first question as we prepare for the balance of 2026 – Are you doing all you can to grow your company?

Per this article, CO2 emissions, largely driven by human activity, is rising 10 times faster than at any time in recorded history.

When a far less rapid growth happened 50,000 years ago it triggered an environmental chain reaction impacting oceans and climate.

For those saying “Fake News” or “This is just a cycle” or “It is not my job”, we wish you were right.

Buckle up!

Per this study of +1,000 small business leaders, having a sustainability expert on the board of directors is second only to having a financial expert…and ahead of expertise in sales, marketing, IT, operations, legal, ex cetera.

• The first thing many of you will say is, “We don’t even have a formalized board of directors. We have a board of advisors.” 
• Regardless of the form of your board, point is, having an expert on sustainability as part of that group is essential to your go-forward success due to market demand, opportunity and risk.

Edenark Group serves as sustainability advisor to every client it has; and sits on the client’s Green Team.  Given that the Edenark Group ISO 14001 program delivers a positive ROI, this is a very cost-effective way to have a sustainability expert advise the leadership of your organization. 

If you would like to talk with us about having a sustainability expert for your board of directors or board of advisors, send us a note via this form.

Per this article, 45% of SMEs have already increased their sustainable projects over the last 12 months and 65% of SMEs are planning more sustainability projects over the coming 12 months.

This is great to see!

If you are planning more sustainability projects, remember the rule:

• You can talk about the project – “We put solar on the roof.”
• But you cannot use the project to imply your company is sustainable or green or eco-friendly – In other words, you cannot say “We are an eco-friendly company that put solar on the roof,” as that is greenwashing.
• Making green, sustainable or eco-friendly claims about your company requires being certified under a standard, allowing your claim to be attached to the standard – ie, “We are an environmentally certified sustainable company under the Edenark Group ISO 14001”

If you are doing more sustainable projects, WONDERFUL!!!!  This is what every company should be doing.

But if you want the brand/revenue-side benefit of talking about being a good corporate citizen and doing sustainable projects, you need to be certified/verified under a globally respected standard.

If you care about sustainability, why not talk about it and lead others?

• Like it or not, consumers are evaluating your company on its sustainability effort
• A meaningful part of your company’s value is tied to its sustainability effort
• Greenwashing (promoting a sustainability effort that is not validated/certified by a 3^rd party) will hurt you
• Greenhushing (not promoting a sustainability program that is 3^rd party validated/certified) will hurt you
• You need a 3^rd party certified/validated sustainability program that helps you promote your real/accurate sustainability efforts
• This masterclass explains what to look for in a program

Given that we are all trying to achieve our 2026 plans, this article, showing a study using AI on 10,000 companies over 12 years, might be worth considering

• Using the S&P 500 as a base

• The portfolio study group that focused on sustainability-related R&D / new products, outperformed peers by 92%

• The portfolio group that focused on financial donations or communications campaigns (ie, the sizzle without the steak) underperformed peers by 70%

If you would prefer to outperform peers rather than underperform peers, watch this master class and contact us.

May 2026 was the second warmest May in recorded history, trailing only 2024.

With 2024 being the warmest year so far, in recorded history, 2023, 2025 and 2026 are all clustered near it.

2026 will conclude as the 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th warmest year in history, battling 2023 and 2025.

El Niño is expected to arrive too late to propel 2026 to #1.  But it might cause 2027 to get there.