How Important is Sustainability to Consumers?

We reside in a world that’s now 1.5C hotter than throughout pre-industrial occasions, with extreme climate occasions that lead to profound human and monetary prices. The World Well being Group declares this burgeoning disaster “the only greatest well being menace going through humanity”.

Recognising the urgency of sustainable company motion not solely safeguards in opposition to provide chain disruptions and punitive laws but in addition unlocks a worthwhile enterprise technique pushed by rising client expectations and demand.

In response to this escalating menace, customers and companies alike are reevaluating their environmental and societal priorities and in search of sustainable options that profit well being, funds and humanity.

Experiences from the Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change (IPCC) reveal that family consumption accounts for 60-70% of worldwide emissions, and that’s why we’ve performed the International Sustainability Report 2024-25 – protecting 10 of the world’s most important economies, monitoring the spectrum of behaviours, attitudes and buying tendencies of 10,000 customers, and benchmarked in opposition to information over a four-year interval.

Our objective? To equip you with the cutting-edge information and knowledgeable insights wanted to tell your advertising and marketing and innovation methods and make your model extra resilient to the sustainability challenges forward.

For this yr’s Client Sustainability Examine, our analysts have taken a better have a look at the specifics of sustainability within the CPG business. They supply an in-depth evaluation of sectors together with Meals & Drink, Magnificence & Private Care, and Family Care. This gives a deeper understanding of the best techniques methods that can make your model’s merchandise, companies, and insurance policies stand out.

The significance of sustainability to customers is changing into more and more obvious, as they really feel more and more engaged, threatened, but helpless. We discover that local weather change deniers are within the minority (at 28%), as 49% of individuals report changing into more and more uncovered to – and activated by – excessive climate occasions.

The rising client consciousness of sustainability and rising ranges of engagement is as a lot about training as it’s publicity. 4 in ten contributors surveyed attribute their elevated understanding of environmental points to eco-activism, resulting in a extra cynical view of company claims, particularly, carbon offsetting. Acutely aware consumerism is gaining traction, with over three-fifths of customers expressing that they’d choose for corporations to cut back their very own carbon emissions as a substitute.

Our world main Client Sustainability Examine uncovers surprising findings and busts some myths alongside the best way. We discover that while younger customers aged 16-24 are most certainly to have joined a local weather demonstration (10% have finished) and twice as more likely to be vegetarian (at 6%), their sustainability behaviours and perception methods relating to local weather change are merely customary.

Apparently, customers aged over 55 exhibit the strongest ranges of motion and engagement in the direction of sustainability. Two essential components probably drive this development. Firstly, being older offers them a better sense of perspective and secondly, their possession of great property (specifically houses and wealth), empowers them for such actions. They not solely consider that their behaviours can positively influence the surroundings, but in addition take aligned motion with their values.

Our International Sustainability Report 2024-25 helps the notion of “Mom Nature” and gender cliches, which correlate ladies as extra caring and key family customers. The ladies surveyed have proven better consciousness of sustainability, and are six factors much less more likely to be local weather change deniers than males. They’re extra probably by 5 factors to consider their nation is affected by local weather change, and 4 factors extra more likely to consider they’ll make a optimistic distinction via sustainable behaviours.

This sentiment probably stems from them being extra engaged in actions like power conservation in cooking, scoring a further 5 factors, and recycling, the place they lead by seven factors. Their aware consumerism additional manifests of their food plan, being much less more likely to eat meat commonly by 4 factors.

Evolving buying habits replicate the emergence of a extra resource-conscious client – one who’s more and more involved by meals and water shortages and is in search of sustainable options that ship each effectivity and worth. This shift in the direction of extra aware consumerism is seeing customers embrace buying and way of life behaviours that cut back each consumption and waste, while maximising assets.

Regardless of gradual charges of dietary behaviour change (vegetarians and vegans signify a static 5% of us), organics and meat/dairy alternate options have mainstreamed as fixtures in our weekly grocery baskets. Moreover, our world research’s information helps business narratives across the escalating transition in the direction of cleaner power sources for houses and transport. As of 2024, over one-third of our analysis contributors are sourcing their power from renewable assets, with a noticeable enhance within the adoption of house photo voltaic and warmth pumps. An identical upward curve is seen in electrical automobile (EV) adoption, demonstrated in our monitoring information with hybrid and full EV possession and leasing on the rise, diminishing the maintain of standard petrol/diesel automobiles.

In 2024, our analysis reveals a decline within the proportion of customers who consider that their “behaviour could make a optimistic distinction to the surroundings”, right down to 47% from 51% in 2021. In the identical interval, our insights have additionally seen sustainability components like recycling packaging and accountable sourcing have gotten much less important in customers’ buying selections. Whereas there continues to be rising mistrust of firm sustainable claims, this creates three key challenges that manufacturers should handle when positioning their much less impactful and extra accountable merchandise and insurance policies:

Our sustainability analysis sheds gentle on areas the place customers do – and don’t – see the optimistic influence from their behaviours and that of manufacturers. When surveyed, virtually two in 5 engaged Magnificence & Private Care, Family and Meals & Drink customers consider that corporations can do greater than governments in driving world change. And regardless of customers displaying some enthusiasm for upcycling, carbon seize, GMOs and nuclear alternate options, 1 / 4 of engaged Magnificence & Private Care, Family and Meals & Drink customers discover some environmental points exhausting to know. This alerts a necessity for manufacturers to achieve client belief and place themselves as a real assistance on customers sustainability mission via training, transparency and actionable steering.

Over half of engaged Magnificence & Private Care and Family buyers commonly verify labelling on a product for info comparable to recyclability and over a 3rd of engaged Meals & Drink customers verify on-pack labels for particulars on the environmental initiatives supported by buying the product. This highlights the significance of clear on-pack claims and messaging to assist customers to beat their mistrust and information them in the direction of extra sustainable merchandise. 

As customers deprioritise sustainable issues, entrepreneurs should try to humanise the local weather disaster and its options. Now greater than ever, customers want tangible proof of the optimistic influence sustainable merchandise have on folks in advertising and marketing communications, in addition to a transparent understanding of the wellbeing and financial benefits of sustainable selections.

Being a elementary a part of the issue additionally makes customers key to the answer. Customers are considering like companies, perceiving sustainability as a public menace and a useful resource problem reasonably than an emotive, environmental one. This understanding guides them in the direction of making more healthy, and extra environment friendly consumption selections. Our International Sustainability Report equips you with the strategic insights to know client sentiment in a sustainably aware world, serving to you create and adapt your advertising and marketing and innovation methods to fulfill the evolving wants of your customers.

Discover out extra about our International Sustainability Report 2024-25 which can be obtainable to obtain on Tuesday third September.

Contact our sustainability specialists at this time to be taught extra concerning the report enhancements in Meals & Drink, Magnificence & Private Care, and Family Care classes, together with our custom-made Consulting presentation.