Gartner, the research and consulting giant, just released its latest Hype Cycle.

The Gartner Hype Cycle is a graphical presentation developed to represent the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific tech.

Each hype cycle drills down into the five key phases of a technology's life cycle. These include:

1. Technology trigger – a potential technology breakthrough to kicks things off.

2. Peak of inflated expectations – whereby early publicity produces a number of success stories.

3. Trough of disillusionment – where interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver.

4. Slope of enlightenment – where more instances of the technology's benefits start to crystallize and become more widely understood.

5. Plateau of productivity – where mainstream adoption starts to take off.

The latest Hype Cycle is focused on sustainability trends.

Gartner’s assessment of environmental sustainability technologies revealed that many – such as net-zero data centers and circular supply chains – are still in early stages of maturity. Notably, no technology has yet reached the final stage – ‘Plateau of productivity’ – meaning they are still several years away from widespread, profitable adoption.

In a nutshell, achieving tangible, widespread change across sectors remains a decade or more away.

Anyway, we thought it would be a good idea to talk to the guys at Gartner about the Hype Cycle and what it means for brands, for buyers, for the sustainability movement, for the planet.

It was awesome to grab some time with Sarah Watt, who is a sustainability strategist and change leader - and also a VP with Gartner – to delve into the analysis and find out what it means for you.

The Gartners of this world are absolutely necessary, and people like Sarah are just brilliant at keeping their finger on the pulse of what’s happening out there (so we don’t have to).

If you want to take your own look at the Hype Cycle, just head to gartner.com - and search for ‘Hype Cycle for Environmental Sustainability 2024’.

Enjoy the episode.

The Better Business Show