Consumers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious and this global trend has been accelerated by Covid-19. While Gen Z has been commonly singled out, the rise in demand for sustainability products is reported across all generations – beginning with the baby boomers.
- > 70% of Americans expect brands to become more sustainable.1
- 78% of Americans are more likely to purchase a product that is clearly labelled as environmentally friendly but 3 out of 4 don’t know how to identify environmental friendly products.2
Similar trends are observed in Singaporean consumers.
- 75% of Singaporeans want to behave more sustainability but worry they lack avenues and options to do so.
- 29% of Singaporeans would buy more sustainable products if they had more information about their purchases’ impact on sustainability.
- Echoing the concerns of their American counterparts, 23% of them expressed distrust in businesses’ sustainability claims. Third-party validation mitigates this disconnect. The government was ranked as the most trusted information source, followed by news and online articles.
In today’s context, it’s not enough for brands to state their sustainability claims. Consumers are expecting to be educated in the process. Brands need to engage consumers to allow them to see the value of their actions and to feel incentivised to take further actions.
Case Study: Sustainability Storytelling
As a power generation company, Senoko Energy pledges towards generating cleaner energy to help reduce its environmental impact. Its new sustainability plan, #TakeCharge, is built on three verticals – Collaboration, Solution and Innovation.
#CycleForChange was launched as the flagship campaign, rallying like-minded businesses and consumers to take the sustainability leap. Continuing the new momentum that cycling gained in recent years, the 6-week virtual cycling event sought to encourage green commutes as one of the positive lifestyle changes to reduce carbon footprint. Strategic partnerships established with over 13 businesses opened the doors to the interest groups for Senoko Energy. It also allowed the common vision of a greener Singapore to be shared with the wider community. Together with T-RECs.ai, a reputable industry partner, Senoko Energy offset an additional 426,768kg of carbon emissions by converting the total distance clocked towards the purchase of 1,046 renewable energy certificates. From pre- to post-event, Senoko Energy had proactively engaged the public with sustainability messages, event details and updates, achieving a total of 1.3 million digital and social reach.
for more on #TakeCharge.
1 Insight obtained from First Insight, Inc.’s study on The State of Consumer Spending: Gen Z Influencing All Generations to Make Sustainability-First Purchasing Decisions
2 Insight obtained from Green
3 Insight obtained from WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature (Singapore) Limited (WWF-Singapore) and Accenture Pte Ltd’s study on Sustainability in Singapore: Consumer and Business Opportunities