Consumers swayed by businesses’ environmental credentials
June 12, 2007
Businesses are being urged to implement environmental policies after a recent survey found that 70 per cent of consumers would boycott companies that do not reduce their impact on the environment.
The survey, conducted by media agency MPG UK, also found that 66 per cent of families now consider the environmental impact of products before making a purchase, while 98 per cent said they were concerned about environmental issues.
Commenting on the survey results, Julia Hailes, author of The Green Consumer Guide, said: "A lot of businesses think that they can’t afford to improve their performance on environmental issues. My view is that they can’t afford not to. Every business has to respond to consumer concerns in this area."
While respondents made it clear that they want to see greater effort from businesses, they appeared unconvinced that companies take environmental issues seriously. Fifty four per cent dismissed business responses to environmental concerns as ‘superficial’.
"Some businesses take a half-hearted, tokenistic approach. But consumers can see through that. It’s not enough just to say that a product is ‘recyclable’ or ‘natural’– it doesn’t mean anything," Hailes added.
"The message businesses need to be able to communicate to consumers has to be: ‘We have looked at the environmental impact of our products and our supply chain, and these are the changes that we’ve made as a result.’"
Hailes encouraged businesses to take advantage of the increasing amount of help and information that is now available. In particular that many businesses can get sector-specific help from their trade associations.
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