Consumer Empowerment

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Consumer Empowerment Responsible Business
Approaches
Cheryl Hicks, WBCSD OECD CR Roundtable, 15 June
2009
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WBCSD membership workstream on Sustainable
Consumption Consumers
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• Where we started
• Key questions for business
• 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?

A WOOLY topic
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What are the FACTS TRENDS from a business
perspective?
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• 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.

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Increased consumer willingness
I would be more likely to purchase products or
services from a company with good reputation for
environmental responsibility
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Attitudes vs. behavior
There is a large gap between consumer attitudes
and willingness and ACTUAL BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
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Barriers to behavior change Why is it so
difficult?
The consumer will not compromise on performance,
convenience or price
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• 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.

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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
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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
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• 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
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Business cannot do it alone
Sustainable consumption is a systemic challenge
that requires all actors in society to work
together.
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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