Fewer consumers say they have changed their behavior due to climate concern than did before the pandemic
On average, across 29 countries surveyed by Ipsos in September and October 2021, over half (56%) say they have modified their consumer behavior out of concern about climate change over the past few years. This is down from an average of 69% in January 2020, when an identical question was asked in all but two of the 29 countries.
The proportion of those saying that, over the past few years, they have made changes regarding the products and services they buy or use, specifically out of concern about climate change, has fallen in every country included in both studies. This suggests that, as consumers across the world had to change their daily habits to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus, they became less concerned about the environmental impact of their behavior. On average globally, fewer than one in five (17%) now say they have made a lot of changes, two in five (39%) a few changes, and three in ten (31%) no changes at all.
The most recent survey was conducted in late September and early October 2021 among more than 23,000 adults on Ipsos’ Global Advisor online platform.
The countries where consumers are most likely to report having adapted their behavior to counteract climate change remain unchanged from last year. However, even in these nations, the proportion has fallen significantly. They include India (76%, down 12 percentage points), Mexico (74%, -12pts), Chile (73%, -13pts) and China (72%, -13pts).
The countries where consumers are least likely to say they have modified their behavior due to climate concerns include Japan (22%, -9pts), Russia (40%, -12pts), the United States (41%, -15pts) and the Netherlands (41%, -16pts).
Countries experiencing the biggest decline since last year in their share of environmentally conscientious consumers include Malaysia (62%, -23pts), Spain (53%, -23pts), Poland (49%, -23pts) and France (52%, -21pts).
Globally, the individual actions most commonly taken to counteract climate change are recycling or composting (cited by an average of 46% among all adults across the 29 countries surveyed), generally saving energy at home (43%), avoiding throwing away food (41%) and saving water at home (41%).
Women are generally more likely than men to report changing their behavior because of climate concerns, especially in terms of avoiding throwing food (46% vs. 36%, respectively on average across all countries), saving water at home (46% vs. 36%), buying fewer new things (36% vs. 26%) and avoiding products that have a lot of packaging (33% vs. 25%).
Countries where consumers are most likely to report recycling or composting more often than they used to, specifically out of concern about climate change, include Belgium (65%), Canada (64%), Sweden (60%), Colombia (60%) and Hungary (60%). Inversely, those where consumers are most likely to report having made no changes in how much they recycle or compost include Japan (33%), the United States (32%) and Germany (24%).
To find out whether consumers feel they are more or less engaged in fighting climate change than other people in their community, survey respondents were also asked about changes their neighbors may have made out of concern about climate change. On average globally, three in ten (30%) say their neighbors have made at least some changes, a third (34%) say their neighbors have not made any changes, and nearer two in five (37%) state they are not sure.
The results suggest Latin American consumers tend to think others are less engaged in fighting climate change than they are. The percentage of consumers saying their neighbors haven’t made any changes is higher than the percentage saying they personally haven’t by more than 15 percentage points in Mexico (42% vs. 18%), Chile (41% vs. 19%), Colombia (40% vs. 19%), Argentina (462% vs. 25%) and Peru (37% vs. 21%). This is also the case in Hungary (43% vs. 27%).
In other parts of the world, those who say they haven’t made any changes outnumber those who say their neighbors haven’t – most of all in Norway (50% vs. 31%), Australia (36% vs. 24%), Saudi Arabia (29% vs. 19%, Spain (31% vs. 24%) and the United States (36% vs. 43%). However, in each of these countries, large proportions of people say they are not sure if their neighbors changed their behavior out of concern about climate change.
