AWARENESS SURVEY LIFE08 INF/IT/312 PROMISE project

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1 AWARENESS SURVEY LIFE08 INF/IT/312 PROMISE project SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSUMPTION: the point of view of private Consumers, government Consumers, Producers and Retailers September

2 This Report derives from activities in the Life Plus PROMISE project developed with the involvement of: ERVET Valorizzazione Economica territorio spa (partner, survey coordinator) Organisation representative: Enrico Cancila Team members: Marco Ottolenghi, Guido Croce, Angela Amorusi Regione Liguria (Beneficiary coordinator): Organisation representative: Gaetano Schena Team members: Nadia Galluzzo (Liguria Ricerche spa), Laura Muraglia ANCC-COOP (partner) Organisation representative: Francesco Russo Team members: Marisa Parmigiani, Claudio Mazzini and Silvia Mastagni Confindustria Liguria (partner) Organisation representative: Guido Conforti Team members: Valentina Canepa Regione Lazio (partner) Organisation representative: Aldo Palombo Team members: Maura Mazzei, Alessandro Drago Thanks for technical support in the survey go to: Scuola superiore Sant Anna: Fabio Iraldo, Francesco Testa Indica srl: Elena Ferrari, Dino Gibertoni, Alessandra Vaccari University of Rome 3: Enrico Menduni, Elio Mattarazzo Liguria Ricerche spa: Irene Sanguineti, Silvia Finetti, Mirko Gianni 2

3 THE PROMISE PROJECT AND THE LIFE PLUS PROGRAMME The PROMISE PROduct Main Impacts Sustainability through Eco-communication project was created to promote sustainable consumption and production. The project is financed by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission and falls within the 2008 Life+ Programme Information and Communication. Regione Liguria (regional government) is the project leader and its partners are Regione Lazio (regional government), ANCC-COOP (large retail chain), ERVET (Emilia Romagna regional development agency) along with Associazione Industriali Liguria (Industrial association of Liguria) ( The PROMISE project began in January 2010 and will continue for 30 months (until June 2012); its goal is to define and implement communication strategies to raise awareness among the various stakeholders to reduce environmental impact caused by product lifecycle production phase, methods of distribution, use and end-of-life impact. The aim is to raise awareness of sustainability issues through the dissemination of buying and selling behaviour that will reduce the impact of products on the environment, involving all the stakeholders that can play a strategic part in this process (consumers, retailers, producers and government authorities). The key actions of the project are: Conducting a survey in order to find out the level of awareness of consumers, government authorities, producers and retailers on the environmental impact of products Preparing a communication plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) based on the survey results Monitoring the effectiveness of the communication plan and defining a nationwide communication plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production Communicating and disseminating the project results. The project began with an extensive, in-depth survey involving private consumers, local government authorities, retailers and enterprise in order to define the level of awareness of the various stakeholders on environmental impact connected to products and on how each entity can reduce this. This first deliverable explains how the survey was carried out and reports the results. After this, the survey results will be used to prepare a communication plan to disseminate sustainable consumption and production of basic household commodities (e.g. cleaning products, fabrics, paper, lamps) and food, two very significant categories in terms of the environment. 3

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The goal of the survey conducted within the European Life+ PROMISE 1 project is to detect the level of awareness of consumers as regards the main environmental impact of products; the type of product where eco-friendly solutions should be used (eco-design, green labels, clean technologies); the level of awareness of GPP (Green Public Procurement) procedures in Government Authorities; the level of promotion of green products by retailers. This study was unique because it simultaneously surveyed the same issues, in four categories (consumers, government authorities, producers and retailers) linked by their consumption trends and by their adoption of awareness raising/information strategies. Below is a summary of the survey results for each category interviewed; some differences in the way the data is presented derive from the different methods used to conduct and process the surveys. The analysis of the data gained from GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES (PA) showed: 60% of respondents introduce eco criteria in their procurement tenders. GPP demonstrates a significant correlation with the size of the authority and the awareness of the reference standard (GPP is less common in small municipalities, which may be in part due to staff information/training difficulties). The environmental department (62%) is the favoured liaison for obtaining complete information on the issue. The supply office, in some territorial areas identified as the preferred liaison for the survey, is the compiler in only 35% of cases (mostly in large local government bodies). The main obstacle to GPP (reported in 85% of cases) is drafting green tenders. Technical difficulties (defining technical characteristics of products/services; risk of including clauses that cause the tender to fail; incompatibility in maintenance contracts) and internal organisational issues (inadequately trained staff; difficulty in involving other co-workers or services) lie behind that obstacle. The perception of green products as more expensive products than traditional ones (53%), difficulty in finding green product/service suppliers (33%) and inadequate brand awareness (33%) are the other difficulties expressed in GPP procedures. Lack of awareness of the GPP approach and lack of information about green products on the market are confirmed by the most frequent type of government green purchases: recycled paper, low-energy consumption electronic equipment, organic food, energy from renewable sources. Other green characteristics of products/services are more difficult to recognise and are therefore less likely to be considered in the technical aspects of the procedures (e.g. companies improving their entire production process by putting in place environmental management systems). The brands valorised the most (also in the awareness raising/information campaigns) correspond to the most common government green procurement categories: FSC for paper; Energy Label for electronic equipment; Biologico (organic) and Equo e Solidale (fair trade) for foodstuffs. The CONSUMER survey showed: acceptable, widespread awareness of the urgency of environmental problems 1 The PROMISE PROduct Main Impacts Sustainability through Eco-communication project was created to promote sustainable consumption and production. The project is financed by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission and falls within the 2008 Life+ Programme Information and Communication. Regione Liguria (regional government) is the project leader and its partners are Regione Lazio (regional government), ANCC-COOP (large retail chain), ERVET (Emilia Romagna regional development agency) along with Associazione Industriali Liguria (Industrial association of Liguria) ( 4

5 eco-sustainability factors are decisive when deciding what to buy as a general rule, eco-sustainable products are routinely bought, except for products that are harder to find (furnishings and clothes) there is medium-high satisfaction for all product types the breakdown of the sample group in terms of awareness of eco-sustainable issues (index) is as follows: 27% poor, 47% good, 26% excellent. The most obvious differences lie in the generation and location levels. the viewpoint of the sample group in terms of reasons to buy (cluster analysis) shows the following situation: 18% I don t look, I don t see, I don t hear, 51% you look, 31% I look carefully. The social structure and particulars are similar to awareness. there is clearly a positive link between awareness, choice of eco-sustainable purchases and satisfaction obtained by buying eco-sustainable products (i.e. on average, the more aware consumers are guided more by factors of sustainability and state that they are more satisfied with their purchases); it is just as clear that consumer choices are also made on the basis of their confidence in the organisations that produce and distribute, paying attention not only to certifications but also to reductions in packaging, to the lifecycle analysis, to conformity with a number of standards (ecolabel, FSC, organic). Consumers confidence and therefore their awareness and style of consumption refer to that set of policies, controls and attention to the production chain which, in times of crisis not only guarantee a lower impact on the environment but also quality and health of products. the presence of the COOP supermarket chain in the territory is important to improve consumer awareness and consequently their buying behaviour (see differences between the South and Islands with the rest of Italy) awareness and a greater eco-sustainable footprint in the purchasing processes have taken hold in groups with a high level of education and of middle age; for the others: a. elderly: poor awareness and less eco-sustainable attitude (do we encounter solidified and unchangeable buying behaviour?) b. youth: high awareness and less eco-sustainable attitude (caused by contingent factors, crisis etc. or motivational factors?) the combined interpretation of the level of awareness and what guides consumers buying choices (awareness index cluster) mainly indicates that the sample group can be broken down even further, considering the degree of consistency between the level of awareness and the eco-sustainability of their buying choices; the results here show that: a. 40% demonstrate that their level of awareness and their purchasing factors are consistent (the less aware don t look, don t see and don t hear, the middle aged allow themselves to be guided and more aware consumers look carefully); b. 36% of the sample group declares more virtuous behaviour (even though they do not know the environmental issues in detail, they can implement eco-sustainable buying choices); c. 24% of the sample group declares a purchasing process structure that is inadequate for their high awareness; although these consumers are aware of issues connected to environmental sustainability, their actual behaviour is not very sustainable. They are mainly males, between 26 and 35 years old, educated and living in the northeast of Italy. Still, it must be stressed that not only is this group a smaller number than the one with virtuous behaviour but also that a certain number of dissatisfied people is probably natural, particularly when dealing with these issues. 5

6 The survey of PRODUCERS was conducted through the network of enterprises belonging to Confindustria, the Italian industrial association, mostly from the food sector (60% of the panel was formed of firms operating in the food chain). The analysis of the data collected showed some interesting information concerning the socalled green products, as we can see below: - the main target market of the respondents are (in descending order of revenues), traditional sales and large-scale retail chains, followed by procurement of other manufacturers and government authorities in 25% of cases only only 31% of the enterprises declare that they produce and supply green products/services, as a priority to large-scale retailers but with government authorities, which have considerable weight, particularly in the food sector (2 nd benchmark market with 20% of the green revenues). - the producers identify the low environmental impact and recyclable materials as benchmarks to consider green products/services (except for the food sector where ethical/social standards are mentioned by 40% of the respondents). Characteristics to pursue through eco-design, environmental management systems and product certification In particular, eco-design tools appear to be related to traditional competitive advantages like revenues and customer satisfaction, whereas product certifications show a strong relationship with customer loyalty promotion and with reputation, factors that fall within the construction of mid-term competitive performance - waste management and reduced packaging are the aspects that become significant in marketing strategies (although these highlight a strong interdependence with economic benefits and promoting customer loyalty). A positive return in terms of reputation with customers also comes from marketing strategies centred on reducing greenhouse emissions and on saving water. - in terms of relations with consumers, we can see that the environmentally friendly characteristics of products/services are important but are not yet the decisive factors in buying choices that still favour factors like: price, brand, quality, confidence in the retail outlet - the main communication tools used to promote consumer awareness is labelling, and to a lesser extent communications made at the retail outlet and TV ads - as regards retailers, it is considered that the market has a certain growth margin although the trend is moderate. Key aspects affecting the choices of large-scale retailers include environmental quality of the product, information on the lifecycle and environmental labelling, in addition to packaging - lastly, as regards relations with government authorities, the survey revealed that the government market is still immature 53% of respondents state that there is no public demand for green products/services at all The survey of RETAILERS, which involved large-scale retailers, aimed at exploring: a. how retailers interpret and evaluate the buying choices of consumers; b. if and to what extent they consider that the promotion strategies implemented in the retail outlets can have an impact on them c. what could be the most appropriate methods to condition the buying habits of consumers, directing them towards eco-sustainable choices In the first place, the results showed that: 6

7 - the methods used to show off eco-sustainable products in retail stores are mainly posters and the range of products marked - on the whole, the communication/information tools and strategies used by COOP to promote consumer awareness on environmentally aware behaviour are considered effective (62%) - according to the retailers, the ones that stand out in terms of effectiveness are TV ads and eco-consumerism communication campaigns - the sale of eco-sustainable products has led to competitive advantages mainly in terms of: - company reputation (93.9% overall) - customer satisfaction (88.7%) - customer loyalty (78.2%) Other considerations can be advanced with an analysis of how retailers interpret and evaluate the buying choices of consumers. As regards this, in the first place it must be pointed out that the responses of the two targets surveyed cannot be completely superimposed. Still, what we can reveal is the following: - overall, retailers have in mind consumers who are less aware of environmental aspects than what they really are, according to the consumer survey results - according to the retailers, when consumers are choosing what to buy they take environmental labels less into consideration than what they actually do, and this is mainly true for sophisticated labels (FSC, EPD); the same applies to the importance of elements connected to the product lifecycle in determining the buying choices - still, the responses of the small and medium cooperatives constantly give results of more faith in the importance of the environmental lever for buying choices; this may depend on the different kind of contact they have with customers - a nonalignment opposite to what was just stated can be found as regards the evaluation of the effectiveness of communication actions implemented by COOP: in this case, the retailers overrate the communication/information tools and strategies used by COOP to promote consumer awareness on environmentally aware behaviour The considerations and evaluations that emerged from the CROSS-THE-BOARD ANALYSIS, with the goal of investigating the degree of convergence of the four stakeholders in some key aspects that affect sustainable production and consumption trends, can be encompassed in the following macro-trends: 1. SHARED VISIONS: Many of the responses demonstrate that the perceptions of the different stakeholders basically coincide, both in terms of the variables in play (e.g. definition of what is ecological), and of the ways these can be enhanced (e.g. communication tools). 2. MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: The across-the-board analysis highlights that producers underestimate the maturity of consumers, their capacity to grasp and their willingness to reward ecological products and innovative sales channels. 3. EXTENDED RESPONSIBILITY: the analysis shows a (partly unexpected) inclination by all the stakeholders to pay particular attention to the environmental aspects of the production process and of the supply chain. 4. EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE: Consumers and producers demonstrate that they have more consideration and appreciation for more concrete environmental aspects that are closer to everyday life (family life and business operations). 7

8 5. ASSISTED CHOICES: The analysis shows that consumers greatly need information, awareness raising and guarantees (as well as incentives) to stimulate, guide and support aware buying choices. 6. BANDWAGON EFFECT: Aspects relating to the ecology and the environmental advantages are associated (and can be further developed) with the simultaneous presence of product security guarantees and of ethical and/or social issues. 7. CONSOLIDATED HABITS: All the stakeholders interviewed perceive that consumer preferences are still decidedly oriented towards variables like product quality and cost which take priority over the environmental advantages. On the contrary, there is a willingness to go without a product brand in favour of it having a low environmental impact. 8. UNCERTAIN CERTIFICATIONS: The analysis highlights a clear and unequivocal demand by consumers for certainty, hinged on the approach of third-party guarantee, which however appears disoriented by the numerous certifications that exist. 8