In an effort to measure and monitor the progression of consumers worldwide towards eco-friendly consumption habits, National Geographic and GlobeScan recently finished a study that surveyed citizens in 14 countries. The results of the study led to the creation of the “Greendex”, an index of how green the consumption habits of citizens across the world compare.

The Greendex is the first study to measure how consumers are buying eco-friendly products, as opposed to tracking what governments or companies may be doing to support green. Essentially, the Greendex illustrates which countries are willing to consistently pay extra for products that are eco-friendly.                              

So who is the greenest? According to the map, the top 2 countries where consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay for eco-friendly products are Brazil and China and India. Who is the worst of the 14 surveyed? Go figure, the U.S.A.  

You can download the entire Greendex report here .                                             

A recent survey done by the Shelton Group called “Eco Pulse”, suggests that consumers are confused about what makes a “green” product “green”. One of the questions in the survey, for example, asked consumers to name what features a home would need to have before it would be considered a “green” home. Almost half (42%) had no idea, 28% said it would need some kind of solar power, 12% mentioned using fluorescent light bulbs and another 10% cited Energy Star appliances.

Before we go any further – is this is a surprise? Though many of the eco-friendly products out there have been around for a while, the interest in green products seems to have appeared overnight. Does the average consumer really know anything about the key attributes of a product they buy? What makes a soda “Lite”? I don’t have the foggiest what key component(s) in my Core2Duo processor makes it “blazing fast”. The myriad of certifications, approvals, pats-on-the-back, etc that have shown up to help guide consumers through the maze of green products – has really just muddied the water.

The research continued by asking consumers about the importance of a company’s eco-record. While 49% of the people asked said that a company’s eco-record is important, only 21% said they had purchased a company’s product because of their eco-record with only 7% remembering the name of the product.

Suzanne Shelton, CEO of the firm that conducted the research stated –

“If you were an alien and you landed on the planet in April of this year, you would think that the ‘green’ market was pretty mature because you’d be hearing about it everywhere—every newspaper, every TV show you turn on somebody is talking about being green. But this is not a mature market.”

Some more interesting findings from the report –

- Most Americans put their personal comfort ahead of the environment. When asked, “Given a choice between your comfort, your convenience or the environment, which do you most often choose?” Forty-six percent chose comfort and 31% chose the environment.
- A significant number (40%) admitted to negative or ambivalent responses (”skeptical,” “irritated,” “guilty” or “unaffected”) to increased media attention regarding our impact on the environment, while 60% answered in a positive fashion (”better educated” or “glad”).
- When asked, “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Global warming, or climate change, is occurring, and it is primarily caused by human activity.” Fifty-seven percent agreed or strongly agreed with this statement.

- When asked why most companies that adopt environmentally friendly practices do so, the most common response (47%) was “to make their company look better to the public.” Only 13% believed it was “because their owners/shareholders care about the environment.”

Just how deep has the green movement integrated into the mainstream? According to a report from the Natural Marketing Institute, which appears to no longer exist (weblink doesn’t work), the number of households with organic products across six product categories increased from 57% to 59%. Not a huge jump but 2% of the U.S. population represents approx. 7 million people.

They also categorized consumers into 4 different groups based on their perception of purchasing eco-friendly products. They describe them as such –

“DEVOTEDS, as their name implies, are the most committed to organic and its ideals and are most likely to have changed their lifestyle to integrate organic. The more a category is used, the more it has to be organic. TEMPERATES have modern organic attitudes and fit organic into their lifestyle; the more they use a category, the more an organic version becomes a treat. DABBLERS are non-committal about organic – they can take it or leave it. For them, buying organic is more about hipness than the health benefits. RELUCTANTS are the least trustful of organic and believe that conventional products are just as good (if not better) than organics and that organics are not worth the extra cost.”

2007 2006

Devoteds 18% 16%

Temperates 22% 22%

Dabblers 41% 44%

Reluctants 19% 18%

Based on their research, it appears that the number of Dabblers decreased. And looking at the chart it appears that the 3% of the Dabblers that 2% became Temperates or Devoteds while the other 1% of them became Reluctants. So what kind of green consumer are you?