Businesses must step up and raise their sustainability game
When it comes to making sure that our day-to-day consumption is as environmentally friendly as possible, where does responsibility lie?
According to new KPMG research, believe it or not, just 15 per cent of consumers point to policymakers, and only 10 per cent think that they themselves are responsible.
The majority – 53 per cent – think it’s the duty of the companies producing or manufacturing the products in the first place.
In London specifically, consumers did place more of this mammoth burden on policymakers, with nearly a quarter (23 per cent) identifying them as mainly responsible for ensuring that goods are sustainable. But at 47 per cent, the focus still remains on those producing the products.
This isn’t because people are oblivious to the issue. On the contrary, two thirds of Brits said that they cared more about the environmental impact of the goods they use now than they did five years ago.
Clearly the corporate world has to wake up to the strength of feeling towards sustainability.
Much of the noise we’re hearing from corporates at the moment focuses on creating various environmentally friendly offerings. But today’s consumers emphatically expect businesses to embed sustainability across everything they do, so that they as individuals no longer have to worry that they might make the “wrong” choice.
The good news for business is that, while consumers do mainly look to manufacturers to take responsibility, they aren’t under any illusion that it will come without cost to themselves. Our research found that most would be willing to pay an average of 8.5 per cent more for products that are more environmentally friendly.
Of course, a huge question mark hangs over whether they would actually vote with their feet and choose to pay the premium they say they will.
But in today’s Attenborough-inspired commercial landscape, firms don’t really have much of a choice.
Since Blue Planet aired, calls for us all to be more conscious of our consumption have become unrelenting. At this very moment, people are protesting across the country, the government is setting tough new targets on emissions after declaring a state of emergency, and retailers are endeavouring to think of new ways they can innovate at the point of sale.
This isn’t a trend that businesses can afford to ignore, regardless of whether they are consumer-facing or behind the scenes. The pressure is on, across all demographics.
Interesting, we found that it is those under 24 and over 55 who are most engaged in this fight to be more environmentally friendly. Perhaps these generations are thinking about the future they’ll be stepping into and the legacy they’ll be leaving behind.
It’s clear that the pressure on all stakeholders will only grow, especially as the more engaged younger generation gains economic power and as the impact of global warming comes more sharply into focus.
The time for thinking and token gestures is over. It’s now time for hard action and results.
Main image credit: Getty