2Sustain

Will sustainability become a major driver of consumer purchasing behavior?

Many leading corporations are betting that it will. But, new research from OgilvyEarth suggests that, at least for now, consumers just aren’t buying it.

The study, Mainstream Green: Moving sustainability from niche to normal, provides new insight on how to close what OgilvyEarth calls “the Green Gap,” a division that persists between what consumers say and what they actually do around sustainable living.

According to the study:

• The vast majority of Americans (82 percent) have good green intention. But, only 16 percent are dedicated to fulfilling these intentions. That leaves 66 percent in the category that OgilvyEarth calls the “Middle Green.”
• The Middle Green is difficult to motivate. Typically, most of the dialogue and marketing has focused on the extremes of consumer behavior – what the study refers to as the Super Greens or the Green Rejecters.
• Economics, guilt and perceptions all play roles in motivating green purchasing behavior. For example, the top barrier Americans claimed was holding them back from more sustainable behaviors was money. Guilt plays a role, too, and so does gender — 82 percent of survey respondents said going green is “more feminine than masculine.”
• Interestingly, when given a choice between purchasing an eco-friendly product from a known brand or a company that specializes in being green, 73 percent of those polled opted for the known, mainstream brand.

OgilvyEarth offers sound guidance for companies looking to normalize sustainable behaviors. In broad terms, the recommendations include: (more…)

New research from BusinessesForSale, an online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers of businesses and franchises, suggests that more business buyers are placing the installation of green initiatives above staffing and IT issues in their list of post-acquisition priorities.

Why? I assume it’s because business buyers are becoming increasingly aware of the long-term financial benefits of an energy efficient and otherwise eco-friendly office. (more…)

I am having a hard time determining if the findings of a new McKinsey study on how companies are viewing climate change represent good news or bad news. On the positive side we see that 60% of companies regard climate change as strategically important, yet over 33% of the responding firms state that they “seldom or never” consider climate change when developing their strategies. 

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In Jason Busch’s recent posting on Spend Matters Your Supply Chain Carbon Footprint — Measuring it Ain’t Easy I think he really hits the nail on the head when he speaks to the need to "put science and process into measuring supplier practices." In my estimation, process standardization is the key to successful sustainable supply chain management.

Sustainable supply chain management is all about reporting data, monitoring compliance, and improving performance in areas ranging from toxics to emissions to packaging to logistics. But only by standardizing how we gather, analyze and report on this data can we begin to implement viable improvement programs and move up the maturity continuum.

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