Consumers Want to Buy ‘Green’ Brands

About 70 percent of consumers would consider switching brands if one could demonstrate better environmental credentials, according to research from sustainability nonprofit Forum for the Future.

Novelis commissioned the research to gain consumer insights into its evercan product, aluminum sheet certified to contain at least 90 percent recycled content. In April, Red Hare Brewing became the first to commercially use the evercan aluminum sheet (pictured).

Novelis says it now plans to bring the technology to the mass market canning industry and position evercan as a leading exemplar of the circular economy.

Working with marketing research agency, Madano Partnership, Novelis and Forum for the Future conducted a study of 3,000 people across the UK, US and Poland.

The key findings were that sustainable packaging adds brand value by:

• Driving brand preference: People want to buy products and services with a positive environmental and social impact, with sustainable packaging featuring among their top concerns.
• Supporting brand protection: Waste features among people’s top concerns for companies to tackle and consumers are prepared to boycott brands that they consider to be acting irresponsibly.
• Providing an opportunity for leadership: People look to brands to help to solve environmental challenges, and companies have set themselves challenging sustainability targets.
• Supporting brand resilience in the future: Higher consumer awareness, expectations of brands’ environmental and social impacts, and new industry standards, mean that brands need to act today on sustainability issues to be resilient in the long term.