Cost of living crisis | FMCG | Reports | Retail | Sustainability | Crispin Boon
On the 7th of November 2022, all eyes were on Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, as leaders from around the world gathered to examine the progress made towards the world’s collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris Agreement. And whilst politically it can be argued that the appetite for real change is growing, the State of Climate Action 22 highlighted the huge gap between rhetoric and action. In fact, of the 40 indicators of progress assessed in the report, none are on track to reach their 2030 targets.
This also is all happening against the backdrop of an incredibly unstable political and economic environment. Now may be a difficult time to push the environmental agenda but does not diminish the importance.
In September Market Measures spoke to 900 people to understand their relationship to sustainability, what they expect from brands and what would encourage more sustainable behaviour. Optimistically sustainability is important to 85% of people but there are barriers to greater behaviour change and how brands choose to tackle these barriers could make a big difference to the success of climate change initiatives across the UK.
Key Headline:
• Sustainability is important but that doesn’t mean people feel able to change their habits.
• The cost of living crisis is presenting shoppers with a tough choice of sticking to their personal values or focusing on price.
• There are various reasons why people find it difficult to engage in sustainability but the cost is a huge component.
• Sustainability needs to be easy for people to engage with. Packaging is by far and away the most important way to do that – as long as it doesn’t come with a higher price tag. • Plastic pollution is top of mind for people and recyclability is a primary indicator of a brand’s sustainability credentials.
• In order to effect change now brands and retailers need to focus on education and communication.