Is Low Carbon Consumerism “Smart, Fun or Green Hedonism”?

British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has called on business leaders to revamp the way they promote green products in order to shift their messaging away from ethical considerations and towards the benefits low-carbon products and services can bring, as “the smart choice, the fun choice”, even urging them to deliver low-carbon products that encourage “green hedonism”. The new CBI report, which is based on a survey of nearly 2,000 people, reveals that energy efficiency and environmental impacts remain a relatively low priority when consumers are considering making a purchase, warning that despite growing concerns about climate change “we are seeing limited change in consumer purchasing behaviour”.

The Guardian (9 March 2011):

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has today called on business leaders to revamp the way they promote green products in order to shift their messaging away from ethical considerations and towards the benefits low-carbon products and services can bring.

Speaking at the launch of a new CBI report that reveals widespread consumer indifference to many green and energy-efficient products, Huhne said the onus was on businesses to position low-carbon products as “the smart choice, the fun choice”, even urging them to deliver low-carbon products that encourage “green hedonism”.

The new CBI report, which is based on a survey of nearly 2,000 people, reveals that energy efficiency and environmental impacts remain a relatively low priority when consumers are considering making a purchase, warning that despite growing concerns about climate change “we are seeing limited change in consumer purchasing behaviour”.

Huhne said that both businesses and government needed to step up efforts to “make it easier for people to make green choices and ensure they are thinking green at the critical decision point”.

“We need to change the story so that rather than [green products being] a sacrifice we take to feel better about ourselves, it is clear the green choice is the smart choice… the fun choice,” he said.

His comments were echoed by CBI director-general John Cridland, who argued “business has yet to make a compelling enough case to our customers about the benefit of the low-carbon economy”.

“When people do their weekly shop, they don’t walk down the supermarket aisles looking for low-carbon products,” he observed. “They want to know how something is going to give them value for money.”

Huhne said the government was keen to work with businesses to make it easier for consumers to make green purchasing decisions, calling for the creation of a “simple, consistent, voluntary labeling scheme” modeled on the successful A-G labels for fridges that clearly display the energy costs associated with different products.

The CBI report, entitled Buying into it – making the consumer case for low carbon, revealed that while 83 per cent of people think businesses have a responsibility to provide energy-efficiency information, only 16 per cent trust manufacturers to provide accurate information and just nine per trust retailers to do the same.

Cridland admitted too many firms were guilty of using green labels to confuse customers, warning that companies “need to drop the spin and bowl straight” if they are to produce an effective standardised labeling scheme.

To accompany the launch of the report, the CBI today announced plans for a new joint business-government taskforce designed to promote policies and initiatives that will help build a mass market for green goods.

Cridland said that it would work on developing more consistent energy labeling for a wider range of green products, as well as investigating ways to improve green marketing and better promote upcoming government campaigns, such as the Green Deal and the smart meter rollout.

He also offered some thinly veiled criticism of the government’s Green Deal proposals, reiterating CBI concerns that the coalition has not put in place sufficient incentives to encourage people to take advantage of the energy-efficient loan scheme.

“When we present the Green Deal, we shouldn’t be talking about lofty ambitions and targets that we have to hit – we should be selling,” he said. “The people who will deliver the Green Deal – the people who will finance it, or who will be putting in the insulation, the double-glazing – they tell me they’re really up for the potential for this scheme, but they’re also worried we’re not exciting the public enough to get them to take it up.”

Despite reports that this month’s budget could include some form of stamp duty tax break for households that take advantage of the Green Deal, Huhne failed to provide further details on how the government will promote the scheme. But he reiterated the coalition’s commitment to its flagship energy-efficiency policy, arguing that it will represent the “biggest intervention in home energy since the birth of the national grid”.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk