RETHINKING SOME SUSTAINABLE STEREOTYPES

While European consumers can be divided into four broad groups when thinking about the environment, their behaviours differ from one country to the next, often in unexpected ways, finds a new study.

The study by Forrester identifies the following types of green consumer:

• Active Greens (21%): environmentally friendly products are chosen ahead of low cost or convenient ones.


• Convenient Greens (24%): value convenience and cost over the environment.


• Dormant Greens (40%): don’t actively look for environmental information but are most likely to be persuaded once aware.


• Non-Greens (15%): not environmentally conscious, cost always comes first.

Tackling country stereotypes

• Despite having a Green party in government, Germany has the highest percentage of Non-Greens and second-lowest percentage of Active Greens after the UK.


• UK consumers are most likely to agree that they prefer cheaper products to environmentally friendly ones.


• Italy has the highest percentage of Active Greens and the lowest percentage of Non-Greens, followed by Spain and France. Italy and Spain have suffered most from recent heat waves.


• Spanish online adults are the most likely among the five largest European economies to be willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. A majority want to to understand how their purchases impact the environment and are disappointed when packaging isn’t recyclable or compostable.


• While French online adults are primarily Dormant Greens, only one in five French online adults think that reducing their environmental impact is too much work.

Tackling age stereotypes

Gen Z is often considered the most actively green generation, but it’s riven with contradictions: they value environmental awareness, but they also expect seamless, instant experiences; they demand sustainable products but are the main buyers of fast fashion; and they’re most likely to say that a low-cost/convenient product is more valuable to them than an eco-friendly one.
Older generations contain more Non-Greens, but the proportion of Active Greens among the Silent Generation is significantly higher than among Gen Z, thanks in part to the latter’s influence. Older consumers often have the time and money to act on the values that their children and grandchildren have instilled in them.
Sourced from Forrester

Source: warc.com