Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

Link: http://greenbiz.com/greenconfidence

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/10/27/new-monthly-research-first-measure-consumer-demand-green-products

Studies of the green marketplace are nothing new -- it's been just over 20 years since the first such study was released -- and perhaps fittingly, the data from those studies never change: In 1989, ... 78 percent of shoppers said they were willing to pay a premium for green products, and surveys today find much the same results.

But a new project launched on October 27, 2009 by GreenBiz.com, Earthsense and Survey Sampling International aims to take a more realistic, and nuanced, look at how average Americans are incorporating green into their shopping decisions, and how they think government, companies, their neighbors and themselves are doing.

The Green Confidence Index (GCI) is a monthly survey of more than 2,500 adults across the country, and gauges responses in three areas:
• Responsibility: how leaders and institutions are perceived to be addressing environmental issues (weight: 40%);
• Information: the adequacy of information available to make informed decisions (20%);
• Purchasing: past and future purchases of green products (40%)
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The survey asks not just what individuals have bought and what they're planning to buy -- and how much of those will be greener goods -- but also asks for opinions on how well different groups are doing in achieving a greener country.
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• Individuals consistently rank themselves highly in terms of "doing enough" to address environmental issues -- around 52 percent felt that they were over the past three months. Other high-scoring groups are those that individuals have the most contact with: The company they work for scored second-highest with around 47 percent of respondents, while major companies and manufacturers consistently took the lowest score.
• Perceptions of major companies and manufacturers lag the list consistently, with only 22.7 percent of respondents seeing companies as doing their share; this was the one significant change since the July baseline.
• The survey asked individuals which are the greenest companies, and as an open-ended question, received a number of results. However, Walmart and Clorox scored highest overall, with Toyota, Whole Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson and General Electric also scoring high points.
• Information is seen as being more readily available for energy-guzzling products such as vehicles (58.7 percent) and household appliances (56.6 percent). For half the categories GCI tracks, a modest -- but significant -- upward shift was evident (apparel, household care products, household appliances, electronics, automotive). Only 3 in 10 investors (28.0 percent) feel enough information is available about environmental issues when they make investment decisions.
• Purchasing of green products is holding steady. In the past year, half of all U.S. adults say they bought at least one green product; nearly one-quarter (22.2 percent) said they are maintaining the same level of purchasing; and nearly as many (19.0 percent) said they've increased the number of green products purchased. Premium pricing is the biggest deterrent, usually because consumers cannot justify paying more (41.0 percent), compounded by the impact of the economic downturn on their paycheck (19.3 percent).

Moreover, [they] found considerable pent-up demand, particularly as green premiums diminish and paychecks regain their health. More than three in five who haven't purchased green say they are considering doing so in the coming year. Of the 52.0 percent who say they've never bought a green food product, more than twice as many say they plan to buy green (36.8 percent) in the future than don't (15.2 percent).

The Index was set in July 2009 at 100.0. ... [In] September 2009, the composite Index stood at 103.8.

The aim of the GCI is to provide companies that are trying to move their green products into the mass market with insight as to how that market perceives those goods, as well as give policymakers and other organizations tools to understand what speaks to shoppers and how to incentivize green behaviors.
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The Green Confidence Index is a subscription-based service that will offer in-depth examinations of shoppers' green attitudes. For more information and to download the first issue for free, visit http://GreenConfidenceIndex.com or http://greenbiz.com/gci/issue/28290
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By Joel Makower
Greenbiz www.greenbiz.com
Published October 27, 2009