Consumer Empowerment &

Responsible Business Approaches

business role
WBCSD Liaison Delegate Meeting

Cheryl Hicks, WBCSD

www.wbcsd.org
OECD CR Roundtable, 15 June 2009
WBCSD membership & workstream on
Sustainable Consumption & Consumers
 Where we started…

Key questions for business:

 What is sustainable and responsible
consumption?
A WOOLY topic  Are consumption pattern issues core
business issues? What is the business
case?
 What is the role of the consumer?
 What is the role of business going
forward?
What are the
FACTS &
TRENDS
from a
business
perspective?
Increased consumer awareness & concern
• 96% of Europeans say that protecting the environment is
important for them personally. Two-thirds of this group say that it
is “very important”
• Nearly ¼ US adults now subscribes to a new set of values that
typically includes “environmentalism, feminism, global issues and
spiritual searching”. These “cultural creatives” are well educated,
relatively affluent, and typical of the kind of consumer responsible
for the success of hybrid cars.
Increased consumer willingness

“I would be more likely to

purchase products or
services from a company
with good reputation for
environmental
responsibility”
 Attitudes vs. behavior

There is a large gap

between consumer
attitudes and willingness
and ACTUAL BEHAVIOUR
CHANGE
Barriers to behavior change – Why is it so difficult?

The consumer
will not
compromise on
performance,
convenience or
price
A business perspective on
sustainable consumption

Facts & Trends on Sustainable Consumption

December 2008

• efficiency gains and technological advances

alone will not be sufficient to bring
consumption patterns to a sustainable level
• changes will also be required to consumer
lifestyles and the ways in which consumers
use and choose products and services…
• business needs to play a leadership role in
fostering more sustainable consumer choices
…to achieve more sustainable lifestyles.
 More Sustainable Consumption:
Business Approaches

Choice-Influencing

Innovation

Choice-Editing

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 More Sustainable Consumption:
Business Approaches

Innovation: development of new and improved products,

services and business models incorporating provisions for delivering
maximum societal value at minimum environmental cost

Choice-Influencing: the use of marketing communications

and awareness-raising campaigns to enable and encourage
consumers to choose and use products more efficiently and
sustainably

Choice-Editing: the removal of “unsustainable” products,

product components and services from the marketplace. In
partnership with other actors in society such as policy makers
and retailers

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The business case:
Products and services have to
perform better, have a
competitive price, AND be more
sustainable

They must minimize

environmental impacts and
deliver value to society
The business case:
Business needs to create the market for sustainable products by
working in partnership with the consumer

…and by using marketing

and communications to
influence consumer choice
and behaviour
Decisions that directly control the impacts of consumption.
The business case:
– Businesses choice-edit by controlling elements of their supply chain
or by eliminating product components.
– Policymakers choice-edit by banning a product or substance.
– Retailers choice-edit by deciding to eliminate products from their
shelves or by demanding certain standards of their supply chains.
Key learnings:
Choices to edit the availability of certain products are often in
conflict
…business, governments and society must work together to
define sustainable products and lifestyles
 Business cannot do it alone…

Sustainable consumption is a
systemic challenge that
requires all actors in society
to work together.
  Sustainable Consumption
                        

WBCSD 2009 Action Plan

1. Advocate Facts & Trends on SC
Policy-makers, retailers, marketers
2. More sustainable products &
consumption
Develop principles & criteria from a
business perspective
3. Sustainable lifestyles
Develop business view on lifestyles that
support the vision of a sustainable
world