This report is the 21st annual U.S. report published on the state of the sustainability market. The report measures and describes the marketplace for sustainable products and services, the consumers who use them, consumers’ expectations of corporate behavior, and attitudes toward environmental and social issues.
In addition, it uncovers consumer motivations and the challenges they encounter in their pursuit to become increasingly aligned with a more sustainable lifestyle.
The past few years have been challenging for consumers. They have had to deal with a global pandemic, a turbulent economy, historically high inflation, global political turmoil, food shortages, and empty store shelves. In response, consumers are taking inventory and realizing that aspects of their previous way of life may be unsustainable, which is prompting a reorganization of priorities and formation of innovative behaviors realigned with a more thoughtful, sustainable and healthier lifestyle. Therefore, when viewing trends within this report, it is important to note that some shifts in attitudes and behaviors may be reactive responses to current events while others have staying power and may be more permanent shifts.
That said, consumers continue to hold strong attitudes toward environmental protection and are taking small but progressive steps toward incorporating more sustainable and environmentally-friendly behaviors into their lifestyle. In effect, while consumers may exhibit some anxiety about global and national issues, they realize that sustainability is not something that can be put on hold. In fact, since much of their anxiety may be driven by a sense of helplessness, being sustainable and taking part in green behaviors helps them feel a sense of control and purpose for the greater good. Even further, consumers are making purchasing decisions based on a growing set of values-based qualities from toxin-free to fair trade. Therefore, the need for an understanding of consumer drivers that affect behavior patterns has never been stronger.
In this report, we uncover green consumer insights into what may lie ahead and provide perspective on the trends within the sustainability market from a consumer point of view.
Some of the Sustainable topics covered in this consumer report:
- Consumer insights regarding the health of the planet and what issues resonate most with them
- How segments within society view sustainability differently and what motivates this differentiation
- Behaviors consumers are adopting to live more sustainably
- The feasibility of a “circular economy”
- Consumer attitudes toward plastic and packaging
- Interest in corporate initiatives
- Sustainable product purchase and interest in environmentally-friendly versions of categories
- …and much more
Segmentation Consumer Model - Sustainability Methodology
Development of the unique and proprietary segmentation model began with evaluating over 170 different attitudinal and behavioral variables, later narrowed to approximately 21.
This segmentation can be used to identify and predict segment membership as part of a quantitative extrapolative analysis of future consumer behavior.
5 Unique Segments: each segment is mutually exclusive and is designed to have the maximum differentiation between consumer groups and the maximum homogeneity within each consumer group. The predictive accuracy is high at 86%.
The segmentation has been overlaid on third-party data sets such as Nielsen’s Homescan and can be used in custom/primary qualitative or quantitative research.
Scope:
- Quantifies the size of the consumer market for environmentally and socially responsible products and services
- Measures the importance of environmental and societal issues as well as corporate social responsibility
- Explores environmentally conscious behavior
- Determines consumer usage of sustainable products and services and quantifies purchase criteria
- Annual tracking study in U.S. since 2002 and globally since 2005
Report Methodology:
- 4,013 U.S. adults in 2022, nationally projectable to the U.S. adult population and accurate at the 95% confidence level to +/- 1.2%
- Conducted online
- Fielded September 2022
- Report released January 2023
