‘Consumers will not save the world’ says sustainable living report

People feel increasingly powerless in the face of climate change, and despite wanting to live more sustainable lifestyles few are able to do so, new research says.

According to GlobeScan’s 2023 Healthy & Sustainable Living consumer research programme, we are rapidly approaching a climate tipping point where it is likely that half of the global population will feel they are greatly personally affected by climate change.

The proportion that says they feel personally impacted has increased year-on-year since the tracking this metric began in 2020, with over four in ten now saying they are greatly affected. Meanwhile, the report says that “there are hints of an increasing sense of disempowerment” among the global population. Over the past five years the number of people who say that individuals “cannot do much” to save the environment has grown from one-quarter in 2019 to one-third in 2023.

While more than 90% of people want to live more sustainable lifestyles, the findings show that there has been “little meaningful change” over the last five years and improvements have “mostly stalled completely” in the last year. A high cost of living, low of understanding of sustainable actions and lack of support from governments and brands are cited as key reasons for this slowdown. Notably, nearly half (49%) of people say a lack of affordability is preventing them from living healthy and sustainable lifestyles.

The report notes that there is a significant opportunity for “systemic actors” such as industry and government to bring together affordability and behaviour change on a global scale through education and engagement. The appetite is there among consumers, with 72% saying they would like more information on how companies are making their products better for the environment, and 45% having “complete” or a “large amount” of trust in ethical and environmental certification logos.  

GlobeScan CEO Chris Coulter said that the responsibility for changing the world cannot lie with consumers. “We need to shift the narrative from one where the onus is on people to make the right choices to brands taking on more of the burden of enabling consumers to live healthier and more sustainably,” he said. “Consumers should not have to ‘figure it out,’ they should be able to count on brands to be sustainable by default and count on governments to make the systemic changes needed – with the support of business.”

The report follows similar findings from Which? released earlier this year, which called for greater government support for consumers accessing sustainable lifestyles and green technologies.