Desperately Seeking Sustainability?

This research report from the National Consumer Council in the United Kingdom discusses the role of information and advice in influencing sustainable lifestyle choices by consumers. It explores the extent to which people have come across information and advice on sustainable consumption issues, and whether they actively seek out further details. It aims to help guide information providers, especially the development of 'Environment Direct,' a planned online, searchable service that will provide people and communities with information and facts about the effects of different consumption choices. According to the report, people are looking for clear advice on how they can live a greener lifestyle, but are bombarded with so many different ideas about how to do so that they can be put off trying.

Key Findings of the Research

• Large numbers of consumers have personally come across information on steps that they can take to consume more sustainably: 81 per cent have seen information on at least one subject, while 54 per cent are aware of information existing on five or more. But over a quarter of lower-income consumers and nearly a third of younger consumers have not come across any information.
• Only a relatively small number of consumers have actively sought out more information on a given topic: 19 per cent on at least one topic, and only 8 per cent for five or more. This is in contrast to levels of information-seeking behaviour on other long-term issues: 75 per cent of consumers say they have sought at least some information on how to live more healthily; and 63 per cent on pensions and savings. Seekers of information and advice are considerably more likely to be aged 35-44 and in professional or managerial occupations, and considerably less likely to be 15-24 or 65+ and less affluent.

Consumers most commonly seek information about topics that: are well-publicised with simple messages about consumer action; appear to deliver tangible, close-to-home benefits; and present fewer practical barriers to consumer action. The topics on which information is most frequently sought are energy, recycling and organic, free range and fair trade foods.

• Around half (49 per cent) of consumers who currently seek out more information use the internet to find what they are looking for, and 41 per cent prefer it over any other means. For non-seekers, leaflets would also be an important way of finding out more, and both groups indicate that labels or literature with products are key means of getting additional information.

According to the research, sustainable consumption must develop in a way that recognises the realities of consumers’ lives. A number of recommendations are provided in terms of policy, research and the development of Environment Direct.

Policy

• Realise the limitations of providing information from one source, and consider an integrated social marketing approach.
• Consumers will seek information more readily if it delivers on their immediate priorities - including tangible, close-to-home benefits, convenience and fitting in with existing routines. Additional policy interventions are needed, so that seeking more information can be considered valuable to consumers.

Research

• Assess the state of existing information and advice initiatives, to determine if it may be more cost effective to add value to existing advice providers rather than set up
  something entirely new.
• More research is required on the relationship between seeking information and taking action.
• There is a need to assess the efficacy of campaigns designed to influence individual attitudes and choices.

Environment Direct and other Information Providers

• To be most effective, providers of information and advice must use imaginative delivery mechanisms designed for the needs of specific groups. They must also provide information or advice in formats and language appropriate to the audience, with clear, simple messages about what consumers
  can actually do - how, where and when.
• Environment Direct should seek to be ambitious about what it can achieve. An internet-based service providing lifestyle tips in an
  authoritative and well-prioritised manner will be of help to ‘green’ consumers who are already motivated to seek information, but signposting other providers of
  information and tailored advice, and producing supporting leaflets for use in the retail environment, it could encourage consumers who have not previously sought
  information to do so.
• There is a clear consumer demand for more information at the place and time of purchase, through product labeling and ‘with product’ information. To support
  this, Environment Direct should incorporate publicly available information on the environmental performance of individual
  products, with some form of scoring or ranking system.

According to the research, social marketing recognises marketing interventions can be "carefully designed to fit into daily life, to increase benefits and to decrease barriers in ways that achieve behaviour change. It takes a consumer perspective and builds from an understanding of the perceptions, beliefs and behaviours that
consumers start with." Information and advice should be seen as one component of marketing to promote behaviour change, alongside a
range of other policy interventions. According to the report, an integrated approach will help those already seeking information, those not currently seeking information and retailers, to have a better understanding of and commitment to sustainable consumption.