6 Ways Top-Flight Brands Build Sustainable R&D Departments

Top brands try to make every aspect of their businesses sustainable, including their R&D efforts. But how do they do this in practice?

That’s what you’re about to find out. We take a look at some of the strategies they use to stay ahead of climate change and environmental degradation while creating products that millions of people want to buy.

Focus On The Long-Term

The first thing you notice about these top-flight companies is their focus on the long term. These brands aren’t just trying to jump on the newest trend but are working towards ultimate goals and final objectives, often decades away.

These companies try to take account of market trends, technology, and environmental concerns when considering their next moves. R&D departments then try to consider these, building a roadmap that looks beyond impressing shareholders at the next quarterly meeting.

Sustainable Integration

Many of these forward-looking R&D departments also look to integrate other “green” elements in their R&D process. For example, many use eco-friendly materials in their labs or use their industry-leading technology to develop products with minimal environmental impact.

You also see companies designing for recyclability. Firms want to complete the “circle of production and consumption,” reusing more material instead of allowing it to drift into the environment.

Experimental Culture

Top brands also embrace a culture of experimentation. Management understands the value of taking calculated risks and getting employees to work on side projects that might generate high-value returns.

You can see this approach in many of the leading tech companies. R&D departments often have considerable scope in the projects they can pursue, producing incredible results.

You also see it in bioscience companies trying to define new methods to identify drugs or edit genes. These firms must often just try things to see if they work.

Eco-Conscious Lab Design

You also see the top brands changing how they arrange their laboratories to meet sustainability requirements. For example, instead of using throw-away plastics, many are now exploring using reusable vials or glass that can break down in the ground without causing harm.

We are also seeing the use of more advanced filters above fume hoods. These prevent unwanted particles from entering the environment and causing harm.

Metrics That Go Beyond ROI

We’re also seeing a lot of these labs exploring the use of metrics that go beyond basic ROI calculations. While return on investment is critical for businesses, many companies are taking less uni-dimensional views, realizing that lab breakthroughs often have consequences beyond what management or the market can perceive immediately.

Alternative metrics could include:

The pace of innovation
Customer satisfaction
Delivery of eco-sustainable goals

Agile Processes

Finally, many top brands use agile processes to create high-flying R&D departments that get results. Instead of signing off on big projects every few months, these firms focus on rapid iteration, getting their employees to continually test and adapt their ideas. Some even use customer feedback surveys and funnel these into their decision-making processes when deciding what to pursue next.

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Greener Clicks: How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact with Sustainable Digital Marketing

By Julie Starr • March 31, 2025

In the race to decarbonize our world, one area often overlooked is digital marketing. While it might seem inherently clean compared to print or physical campaigns, our online activities have a real and measurable environmental footprint. From servers powering your website to emails filling up inboxes, every click, stream, and scroll contributes to carbon emissions. At Taiga Company, we believe digital strategies can be powerful and low-impact. Here’s how to get started. Optimize for a Low-Carbon Web Why it matters: Websites and digital ads are hosted on servers that consume electricity, often powered by fossil fuels. Every time a user loads your site or ad, it uses energy. How to reduce your impact: Host green: Choose web hosts that use renewable energy or offset emissions. Clean up your code: Streamlined, efficient code reduces load times and energy use. Compress and reduce images: Smaller files mean faster pages and fewer emissions. Limit heavy media: Videos and animations are carbon-intensive; use them mindfully. A faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet—it also boosts SEO and user experience. Email Marketing with Intention Why it matters: Every email sent, received, and stored requires energy. Multiply that by millions of sends, and the impact adds up. How to reduce your impact: Clean your lists: Remove inactive subscribers to avoid waste. Segment wisely: Only send emails to those who will truly benefit. Use plain-text when possible: It’s lower in data and often more accessible. Reduce frequency: Send fewer, higher-quality emails with genuine value. Intentional emailing reduces not only emissions but also improves deliverability and engagement. Sustainable SEO and Content Strategy Why it matters: Search engines crawl, index, and serve up billions of web pages daily. Thoughtless content and bloated sites add to the load. How to reduce your impact: Create evergreen content: Focus on high-quality pages that stay relevant longer. Streamline your site structure: Fewer clicks to find content = less energy use. Use minimal plugins and scripts: Especially ones that load on every page. Green your CMS: Some content management systems are more resource-efficient than others. Sustainable SEO isn’t just eco-friendly—it’s good strategy. Fewer, better pieces often perform better than content mills. Rethink Marketing Automation Why it matters: Automated emails, ads, and data syncing can create a lot of digital clutter. That clutter eats up storage and energy. How to reduce your impact: Audit regularly: Retire old workflows and outdated automations. Optimize syncing: Reduce how often and how much data is transferred. Segment with purpose: Better targeting means fewer wasted sends. Use expiration dates: Don’t let outdated content or assets live forever. Efficient automation can reduce emissions and improve performance. Digital marketing isn’t going away—and it shouldn’t. It offers powerful tools for connection, education, and growth. But like all tools, it can be used more sustainably. At Taiga Company, we’re committed to helping organizations lower their environmental impact without sacrificing reach or results. Sustainable digital marketing is not only possible; it’s essential. Ready to make your marketing aligned with your company's corporate sustainability plan? Let’s start the conversation.

World Water Day 2025: How Beverage Brands Are Leading on Water—and Why Communicating It Matters

By Julie Starr • March 24, 2025

At Taiga Company, we work alongside brands who are not only doing the hard work of sustainability—but are learning how to talk about it in ways that connect with their stakeholders. This World Water Day , we’re reflecting on how leading beverage companies are advancing bold water stewardship goals and communicating those efforts clearly, thoughtfully, and strategically across digital platforms. Water is foundational to the beverage industry. From ingredient sourcing to packaging to community health, it’s a resource that demands attention—not just in terms of conservation, but in terms of how that commitment is shared with consumers, investors, regulators, and partners. Below, we’re highlighting three beverage companies whose recent water stewardship actions—and storytelling—stood out. PepsiCo: From Field to Community, Global Water Replenishment in Action PepsiCo launched 16 new water replenishment projects across nine countries in 2024 alone, restoring more than 1.7 billion liters of water to local ecosystems. These projects are practical and people-centered—ranging from irrigation efficiency in Texas to sustainable farming practices in the Dominican Republic. What stood out: clear project data, human-focused storytelling, and alignment with global frameworks. PepsiCo’s water webpage provides easy access to targets, progress updates, and case studies, helping stakeholders understand both the “why” and the “how.” Suntory Global Spirits: Water at the Heart of the Brand Suntory’s brands—from Maker’s Mark in Kentucky to Yamazaki in Japan—share a common origin: water. The company’s commitment to being net water positive by 2050 isn’t just a corporate goal—it’s integrated into brand storytelling, on-site conservation efforts, and supplier engagement. Their message is rooted in authenticity: water isn’t just an operational input, it’s an essential ingredient in their identity. Learn more on Suntory’s efforts via their LinkedIn post . Asahi Group Holdings: Building Local Water Resilience Together In the Netherlands, Asahi’s Koninklijke Grolsch partnered with stakeholders in the Twente region to develop a local water platform focused on reducing consumption and innovating wastewater reuse. This goes beyond operational efficiency—it’s about building water resilience within a shared ecosystem. Their community-first framing and long-term investment approach were key themes in this post . Why This Matters At Taiga Company, we believe that sustainability actions only go as far as their ability to be understood, felt, and trusted. Communicating water stewardship isn’t just about reporting metrics or sharing photos of wetlands (although both can help). It’s about giving stakeholders the context they need to see a company’s values in motion—clear commitments, thoughtful execution, and measurable impact. If your team is evolving its water strategy—or simply looking for better ways to communicate what you're already doing—we’d love to be part of that conversation.