Willingness to pay extra for environmentally-friendly goods is highest in the Middle East/Africa, where one-third of consumers are willing and lowest in North America, where only 12 percent of both Canadians and Americans say they will pay extra for eco-friendly products. Many consumers reported a personal preference for eco-friendly goods, but large percentages of respondents report setting aside this preference and buying whichever product is cheapest, including 48 percent in North America, 36 percent in Middle East/Africa, 35 percent in Europe, 33 percent in Asia Pacific, and 27 percent in Latin America.

Global consumers have mixed feelings about the environmental impact and benefits of particular sustainable practices. While 64 percent of consumers, globally, indicated they believe organic products are good for environment, there is wide regional disparity of opinion. Eighty percent of Latin Americans and 72 percent of Asia Pacific respondents think organic products are environmentally-friendly, but fewer people are convinced in Europe (58%), Middle East/Africa (57%), and North America (49%).

Sustainable Efforts Making a Positive Difference
Among other environmental and sustainability efforts manufacturers have taken, recycled packaging and energy efficient products are seen as the most broadly helpful. Fully 83 percent believe that manufacturers using recycled packaging and producing energy efficient products and appliances have a positive impact on the environment. Fewer consumers are convinced of the environmental impact of local products (59%), fair trade products (51%) and products not tested on animals (44%).

Belief in the impact of “local” products is highest in North America, where 65 percent of consumers believe these products have a positive impact on the environment.

Three quarters of global online consumers say they take raw materials into account when deciding where to shop and what to buy. Latin American consumers are most likely to take materials into account: nearly 9 out of 10 say that the use of raw materials harmful to the environment influences where they shop and what they buy. North American consumers are the least influenced by the use of harmful raw materials (59%).

Authenticity and Quality are Key
“Green-washing” (or making a product look sustainable), or incremental environmental improvements are not enough to move product. Environmentally sustainable products still need to perform better than the competitors. While sustainability initiatives may not be enough to move a brand to the top of the decision set just yet, consumers are interested in making a difference.

• For more detail and regional insights, download: 2011 Sustainable Efforts & Environmental Concerns.

The bi-annual report shows that while 69 percent of global online consumers say they are concerned about climate change/global warming (up from 66 percent in 2009, but down from 72 percent in 2007), concern for other environmental issues are increasingly taking a higher priority in the minds of consumers. Three out of four global consumers rated air pollution (77%) and water pollution (75%) as top concerns, both increasing six percentage points compared to 2009. The most rapidly growing area of concern among 73 percent of global online consumers surrounds the issues of pesticides, packaging waste and water shortages, with reported concern increasing 16, 14 and 13 percentage points, respectively over the last two years.

“There are many possible reasons for declines in concern about climate change/global warming,” said Dr. Maxwell T. Boykoff, Senior Visiting Research Associate, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. “Focus on immediate worries such as job security, local school quality, crime and economic well-being have all diminished media attention for climate stories in the past two years. In the face of other pressing concerns, a public “caring capacity” for climate change has been tested. Without continued attention paid to global warming/climate change in the media, such concerns may have faded from the collective public conscience.”

Top environmental concerns among Asia Pacific consumers include water shortages and air pollution, while water pollution was the main concern for Latin Americans, Middle Eastern/Africans, Europeans and North Americans.

Shifting Concerns Among the Big 3

With their large populations and high CO2 emissions, many consider the United States, China and India instrumental to any potential international climate change agreements. Yet, concern is falling in the U.S., which recorded one of the steepest declines (14%) in concern about climate change/global warming from 2007 to 2011.

Today, less than half of Americans (48%) say they are concerned about climate change, which contrasts sharply with reported concern in Latin America (90%), Middle East/Africa (80%), Asia Pacific (72%), and Europe (68%). Among the 21 percent of Americans who are decidedly not concerned, 63 percent indicated they believe natural variation—and not people—causes climate change/global warming.

“During this period, Nielsen’s Global Online Consumer Confidence Survey found heightened American consumer concern around the economy, rising gas prices, and debt,” said Todd Hale, SVP Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen U.S. “With financial concerns still on the minds of many Americans, they’re indicating less and less concern about climate change and other environmental issues.”

In China, concern about climate change/global warming is higher than in the U.S., but dropped 17 percent in the last two years from 77 percent in 2009 to 64 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, concern in India has gradually risen in the past four years, and with 86 percent of Indians currently worried, it remains one of the markets most concerned about climate change in the world.

For more detail and regional insights, download: 2011 Sustainable Efforts & Environmental Concerns.

To determine the finalists and winner, Nielsen leveraged three research studies to incorporate awareness levels and perceptions across media types. The studies included:

• A custom survey of nearly 7,000 consumers’ cross-media awareness and perceptions of environmental messages by automotive brand
• Response data from 2.5 million viewers of national television advertising collected by Nielsen’s ad effectiveness measurements service, focusing on green automotive ads
• Measuring social media “buzz” sentiment within green-related discussion threads

The results showed that consumers have definite high awareness of environmentally friendly ad campaigns, with eight in 10 consumers in the cross-media awareness survey reporting seeing “green” auto ads recently. Also notable is the generally positive nature of discussion surrounding green topics for auto brands in consumer-generated media (CGM). Less than 1 percent of discussion was negative on average. This is also reflected in the number of consumers who said green ads shift their opinion of the brand, with two-thirds saying their opinion was more positive after seeing these ads.

“We have seen a heightened awareness among consumers for environmental initiatives in the auto sector,” said Lois Miller, President of Nielsen Automotive. “The key benefit is that with this awareness is also a more positive view of the brand and ultimately, this can help auto manufacturers reach consumers that may not have considered their brand before.”

SUMMARY: Thanks to the consciousness-raising film An Inconvenient Truth and the Live Earth concert series, global awareness of environmental issues has increased, prompting attitudinal changes, but consumer behavior at retail is changing more slowly. In many cases, “green” concerns are the unwitting beneficiaries of tough financial times as people drive less and rediscover the versatility of leftovers.

There’s not much that’s convenient about climate change and its impact on the food chain. Unfortunately, environmental concerns are taking a backseat to more immediate and pressing financial concerns during

this recession. Just one year ago, issues like the environment, health and work/life balance ranked as the primary or secondary concern for consumers. In an April 2009 Nielsen Global Online Survey covering more than 50 countries, it’s the economy and job security that are keeping people awake at night, with global warming falling to 14th place on the list of “biggest and second biggest concerns”.

Half of respondents felt that, over the next ten years, their lives would be negatively affected by climate change, while one-third anticipated little difference. On a country-by-country basis, six of the top seven “most concerned” populations resided in the Latin American countries of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. The sole European exception—and most concerned country overall—was Greece.

Prudent practices
Forced to review spending habits in an attempt to hold the line on costs, green concerns are emerging as an inadvertent winner. For example, lower new car sales translate into fewer cars on the road and lower

exhaust emissions, with a positive impact on global warming. In rosier times, households tended to waste up to 30% of food—today, families are searching recipe web sites for ways to re-purpose leftovers.

Even as consumers are adopting more environmentally-prudent practices, a disparity remains between the percentage of people who claim to be “concerned about the global environment” (80%) and those who state they have proactively changed their daily behavior in the last six months to address climate change (51%).

Measuring miles
A great debate rages as to the appropriate way to measure the costs of sustainability efforts. Some tout the value of food miles—promoting the benefits of buying locally and limiting transportation costs. Others prefer carbon emissions, because mode of transport and time of year can actually make imported products less damaging to the environment.

The carbon emissions method takes into account the energy required to grow and process a product, which can outweigh the cost of transportation. Examples of cost-effective imports to Europe include New Zealand lamb, Spanish tomatoes, New Zealand winter apples and Kenyan roses.

Trailblazing initiative
Consumers want retailers to step up and bring clarity to the sustainability issue, as they have with food labeling. In mid-July 2009, Walmart Stores made the bold move of announcing an environmental labeling

program that would require every vendor—no exceptions—to calculate the full environmental impact and cost of their products.

Based on this input, Walmart would then assign a green rating to every product in the store. The actual rating system may take as long as five years to implement, but represents a landmark moment for the sustainability movement.

Consumer contribution
The Nielsen Global Online Survey findings suggest that shoppers are trying to make a contribution to the sustainability movement in a number of ways. More than half of consumers purchase energy-efficient products and appliances as well as locally-made items. More than 40% of shoppers choose products in recyclable packaging or buy at a farmer’s market.

More than 30% seek out products with little or no packaging and opt for organics where available. More than one-quarter prefer fair trade products, those that are ethically produced or grown and locally-sourced alternatives.

Gone fishy
One example of an environmentally-sensitive program has been introduced by the seafood industry. Demand for seafood is on the rise thanks to the combined impact of publicity campaigns touting the health benefits of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids found in fish, and the negative health and environmental aspects of bringing red meat to the table. Fully 92% of people around the world reported eating fish in the last year.

The downside of increased demand for seafood has been a related upswing in over-fishing, leading to the depletion of many species at world fisheries. In response, the Marine Stewardship Council (http://www.msc.com) developed a logo now featured on millions of products that tells consumers the producing company employs sustainable fishing practices. Seven in ten survey respondents felt that the on-pack accreditation stamp for sustainably-sourced fish was important to their purchase decision.

Among the countries most heavily influenced by the fish sustainability label were Vietnam, Philippines, Brazil, Columbia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, India, Chile, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates.

Tackling responsibility
When asked where responsibility rested for monitoring fishing practices and protecting the sea’s fish stocks, survey respondents voted for country governments (67%), the fishing industry itself (46%), fish manufacturers and processors (28%), people who buy or eat fish (19%), non-government organizations (18%) and fish product retailers (16%).

Table stakes
While many see the move by major player Walmart as a way to differentiate itself from the competition and build consumer loyalty, others believe that in the future, aggressive sustainability programs will become table stakes, simply the price of entry at retail. The ultimate goal is to achieve a triple play where the people, planet and profits all benefit from environmental activism.

But the environment is emerging as an inadvertent winner in the global economic downturn.  Lower new car sales translate into fewer cars on the road and lower exhaust emissions.  “Cash for Clunkers” programs like those started in some European countries and more recently in the U.S. mean that older, less fuel efficient vehicles are being replaced with new models.  Families have rediscovered cooking at home, and are re-purposing leftovers as opposed to just tossing them out (in flusher times, households tended to waste up to 30 percent of food).

Despite having more pressing issues on their mind, consumers want retailers and manufacturers to step up and do what they can to make products more environmentally friendly, whether that means increased energy efficiency, ethically raised crops and animals or less packaging.

According to the survey, half of respondents said that better healthcare infrastructure is the top social issue that they believe corporations should tackle, followed by fighting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and cancer (38%) and education and adult literacy (30%).  Furthermore, 86 percent identified “countering terrorism” as a CSR initiative that should be taken up by corporate India.  Environmental protection is now expected and no longer identified as a CSR initiative by respondents.

More than half of respondents felt that corporations are honest toward their CSR activities, while one-third are skeptical of the motivations behind CSR, believing them to be simply publicity stunts.

“The public’s expectations of companies are on the increase as stakeholders see the significant impact they are having in various spheres, be it in educations, healthcare infrastructure or environmental conservation.  Their confidence in organizations undertaking socially beneficial projects is greater than their confidence in other channels that try to bring about positive social change,” said Vatsala Pant, associate director, consumer research at Nielsen.

The Nielsen Corporate Image Monitor is an annual survey of 1,800 people from a range of occupations in the top seven metropolitan areas.  Stakeholders range from the general public to media and policy makers.

While consumers are generally on board with energy conscious products, their green behavior has yet to extend to their habits in monitoring and paying for the energy in their homes.

Services offered by local utilities such as whole house energy audits, energy efficient HVAC rebates and weatherization services were only used by 2 percent of respondents in the past year. Energy efficient appliance rebates were used by 4 percent.

Similarly, online energy services, such as real-time pricing, load management, and service consumption monitoring were adopted by only 3 to 5 percent of consumers in the past year.

With the energy industry poised for major changes, including a heavier reliance on technology in monitoring and delivery, the report emphasizes that energy providers have major opportunities if they can educate their customers to become more active in their energy use.

Respondents showed a continued interest in energy-efficient equipment in the home, with 25 percent of consumers having purchased an Energy Star certified appliance, lighting product, or heating or cooling equipment in the last year. However this percentage fell from 27 percent last year.

Energy conserving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) have shown strong adoption with 71 percent of consumers using at least one bulb in their homes. Nearly a third (30 percent) of those surveyed said they are using more than six.

One indicator that going green is not just a trend for younger consumers is that CFL use appears to increase with age. While 64 percent of those aged 18 to 34 are using the bulbs, so are 70 percent of adults 35-54 and 74 percent of consumers 55 and older.

Ownership of CFLs is highest among those with higher income and education levels, with 76 percent use among those making over $100,000 a year.

Download the complete Convergence Audit.