“Green” is the buzzword today. Each day someone or the other comes up with a new green concept. I would like to ask you: Do you really know how your personal choices are adding up? How well are people around the globe adopting behaviors that can make the world a sustainable place?
In order to give people a better idea of how consumers throughout the globe are performing in taking action to preserve our planet by tracking, reporting, and promoting environmentally sustainable consumption and citizen behavior, a Greendex survey was conducted by the National Geographic Society and international polling firm GlobeScan.
Greendex survey
The second annual Greendex survey researched 17,000 adults online in 17 countries to determine consumer attitudes and their behavior.
Consumers in India, Brazil and China scored the highest for a second year in a row, for their green behavior. Americans scored the lowest.
The overall findings of the survey are given in the figure below:
Why India Tops the list?
Factors contributing to the high ranking of India include:
• 24% consume chicken, 21% consume fish and sea food and 13% consume beef. Consumers in India rarely consume meat including
• 41% have home heating and 28% have hot running water in their homes.
• A high incidence of Indians use on-demand electric water heating.
• 15% use solar energy to heat water
• 34% purchase “green” electricity
• 74% own motorcycles or motor scooters, the most of all consumers surveyed. Relatively few own vehicles.
• 35% eat self-grown food several times a week or daily, the most of all surveyed.
• 48% avoid excessive packaging regularly just like Germans and Australian consumers.
Why are Americans lagging behind?
• Americans score the lowest percentage on public transit use every day
• Only 58% drive alone
• 61% never use public transport, folks never taking public transit.
• 55% reside in homes with 7 rooms or more. They have the lowest score on the green housing index.
• Americans ranked lowest in the list of countries eating locally grown food
The best green customers are people with more spendable income. As a result, the most promising green products have a propensity to be at the higher end of the market. The potential outlets for green products are retail stores frequently visited by better-off shoppers.
In general, green consumers have the education and intellectual orientation to appreciate value; they understand evidence that is presented in support of environmental claims
Well-informed consumers are emerging as a new tool in the global struggle to create an environmentally sustainable world. Equipped with labeling programs, standards, and an expanding group of social and environmental certification organizations, the world’s consumers are ‘voting with their wallets’ for products and services that promote sustainable development.
Via: GreenBiz