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:
A WOOLY topic
What is sustainable and
responsible consumption?
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
10
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