44% is a number that grew after the pandemic. Only only 18% of people are "EcoActives" who seek out green or sustainable options. That is a number that's shrunk.
The rest are open to eco products, but easily dissuaded. Attaching claims that have non-tangible benefits ("reducing carbon emissions") for the shopper comes with the danger of leading people to think they're either (a) paying more for you, the company, to be virtuous, or (b) buying something less good for the same price.
This is connected to the problem outlined by Rory Sutherland "that a noisy minority has co-opted the focus of political debate from discussing how problems can best be solved, to demonstrating how much they care about those problems. This is self-defeating. Most complex problems are usually solved obliquely with some cunning, small, often counter-intuitive interventions using some form of systems thinking. But those primarily motivated by status-seeking prefer to signal their commitment by demanding interventions that are direct, expensive and visible."
Think for example, about the ultra-rich and their causes; the solutions they offer are frequently virtue signalling (remember Joaquin Phoenix and his "only one Tuxedo for the awards season"?), but beyond the reach of (or relevance to) the average person and unlikely to be contributing to a serious reduction of the problem.
Combine that unfortunate reality with the increasing confusion created by massive oversupply of (mis)information, gaslighting and outright lies and you have a recipe for inertia and counterproductive decision making both at the policy and the individual level.
With the
upcoming US election, we may see more climate, biodiversity and other
sustainability positions in the news there in the years to come.
The percentage of consumers who are interested in green or sustainable options there may fall even further. For companies, this suggests that it is going to continue to be a challenge to get any kind of a premium for sustainability. Given existing commitments, the most logical path forward is to collaborate and ensure that sustainability truly is a precompetitive attribute, something that the consumer is not being sold, but something that they get anyway, because that is where the mainstream is moving.
