sustainability Case Report Embedding Sustainability in the Consumer Goods Innovation Cycle and Enabling Tools to Measure Progress and Capabilities Prateek Jain 1,† , Mabel C. Chou 2,3, * , Faith Fan 4,‡ and Michelle Permata Santoso 5,§   Citation: Jain, P.; Chou, M.C.; Fan, F.; Santoso, M.P. Embedding Sustainability in the Consumer Goods Innovation Cycle and Enabling Tools to Measure Progress and Capabilities. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6662. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13126662 Academic Editor: António Abreu Received: 29 April 2021 Accepted: 4 June 2021 Published: 11 June 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Nutrition & Health and Wellness International Markets Division, Unilever, Singapore 117439, Singapore; Prateek.jaink@unilever.com 2 Institute of Operations Research and Analytics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117602, Singapore 3 Department of Analytics and Operations, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119245, Singapore 4 Private Address, Singapore 000000, Singapore; evanescentce@gmail.com 5 APAC Supply Chain Strategy & Transformation, GlaxoSmithKline, Singapore 139234, Singapore; michelle.x.santoso@gsk.com * Correspondence: mabelchou@nus.edu.sg † Prateek Jain is the Head of Nutrition for International Markets, Unilever and Chairman for Eurocham Supply Chain Committee Singapore. ‡ Faith Fan is an Order Execution Analyst in a major multinational corporation. § Michelle Permata Santoso is the APAC Supply Chain Strategy and Transformation Project Manager at GlaxoSmithKline. Abstract: This paper highlights the mutual relationship and crucial need for sustainability in innova- tion and vice versa, with a focus on various companies that are leading in this aspect. Together with certain conditions in place, growing awareness of this need has led to these companies achieving groundbreaking progress in embedding sustainability into the new product innovation space via the development of an overarching roadmap supported by strategic partnerships and robust quantitative tools, to proactively expand the sustainability mindset and way of life into the company culture and ways of working. Case studies of these companies are examined, and based on the findings, the paper concludes with recommendations and next steps for businesses to take to succeed in sustainability-centric innovation. Keywords: sustainability-centric innovation; circular economy; roadmap; quantitative tools 1. Introduction The 20th century has been a period of unprecedented industrial growth and societal advancement, which has led to exponential growth in energy use, natural resource deple- tion and a rise of varied problems relating to sustainability, especially in the environmental space [1]. In recent years, growing recognition among consumers about such negative environmental impacts has spurred both governments and companies to address these issues. This is because the demand for sustainability-focused goods and services has increased. For example, previous research published in year 2020 has indicated that 72% of Gen Z consumers are willing to spend more on a sustainably produced service, and 59% of consumers across all age groups believed that it was important that the foods they bought were consumed sustainably, an increase from 50% in 2017 [2]. In response to this trend, governments have started to impose greater environmental and social regulations on companies. For instance, in 2018, US legislation proposed an ambitious commitment to a 75% reduction in plastic statewide within 10 years, requiring all single-use packaging pro- duced, sold and distributed in California to be fully recyclable or compostable by 2030 [3]. Moreover, in 2018, European Parliament voted on its first report of the rights of indigenous people around the world, calling their rights to be fully protected [4], while companies Sustainability 2021, 13, 6662. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126662 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability