Mintel’s Global Outlook on Sustainability report has spent three years surveying the sustainable attitudes and actions of 40,000 global consumers.
 
In the past three years, consumers’ exposure to extreme weather events and supply line shortages has seen sustainability shift from a “nice to have” premium purchase to an essential issue focused on resilience. “Climate change” has grown 9 points to become a top three concern for 40% of Americans, just ahead of “air quality” with 29%. Food and water shortages share joint third place at 31% and their ascent is symptomatic of a population directly impacted—as opposed to emotionally affected—by climate change.
 
Although plastic pollution remains a top three concern for 27% of Americans, it is sliding down consumers’ agendas. Eco activists may have played a role here (36% say they have “raised my awareness of environmental issues”) exemplified by hit documentary Seaspiracy’s dissemination of the revelation that 46% of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was actually fishing nets.
 
We should not devalue the importance of ocean plastic as a rallying call to action (it has arguably been the poster boy/girl for the entire past decade’s upwelling of consumer and media engagement), but we should accept that savvier consumers will demand action where the need—or emissions—are greatest.
 
To that point, beauty companies asserting their claims toward carbon neutrality should heed the 60% of Americans who say they “would prefer for companies to reduce their own carbon emissions rather than use “Carbon Offsetting” programs outside of their own area of business” and also work to educate and undo the harm done by some of the limited-edition packaging launches and biodegradable claims that have led consumers to believe that anything is possible.
 
In our survey, only 35% of U.S. consumers say that they know that recovered ocean plastic’s packaging potential is extremely limited, and even less (33%) say they understand that “most packaging marked as “compostable” can only be composted at an industrial facility rather than at home (e.g, in their garden or backyard). Before considering whether to purchase a product that claims to be more responsible, what American consumers want to see most of all (at 41%) is labelling that provides a color-coded, 1-5 score of its impact.   
 
About the Author
Richard Cope is Consumer Trends Consultant, Mintel. He is a graduate of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership’s Business Sustainability Management program and a regular public speaker, blogger and podcaster on sustainability issues.