Prepared by :

Sunil Sagar
Nilesh Pachuri
Nitish Sharma
Mayur Mahidhar
Manish Shukla
Pankaj Mundra
Moneet Saraswat
Parth Sri Narain Tripathi

The Rise of
Green
Consumerism:
Is it a Fad or is
it
Sustainable?

Green Consumerism: The Evolution

It is defined as the use of individual consumer
power to promote less environmentally damaging
consumption, while still satisfying consumers wants
and needs
Was in Europe since 1920 and was later gained
attention by US in 1960s and 70s
The birth of the modern green consumerism was
boosted by the Brundtland report
The challenge of sustainable development is to find
new products, processes, and technologies which
are environmentally friendly while delivering the
things we want

The Fact File

Role of states, businesses, academia, NGOs and
the consumers
Kyoto protocol, an agreement made under the
UNFCCC took an eminent step to reduce the
emission of green house gases
US government aimed to prevent the release of
more than 500 million metric tons of carbon
equivalent emissions
Australian government adopted Proactive
Environmentalism which agreed to limit its
emissions to 108% of 1990 levels b/w 2008-12

Nike reuse a shoe

Walmart moves towards green

consumerism
Increase the efficiency of its vehicle by 25% over
next 3 years and double efficiency in 10 years
Eliminate 30% of energy used in stores
Reduce solid waste from US stores by 25%
It has become the biggest seller of organic milk and
biggest buyer of organic cotton
And it tried to reduce electricity
consumption by compact fluoroscent
bulbs

Criticisms faced by nike and

walmart
Nike faced issues at its indonesia plant and suffered
criticisms from US womens groups and named
among the ten worst international corporations
Walmart faced issues like low wages and gender
discrimination
Body shop also faced criticisms due to use of non
renewable materials
In green consumerism the focus is on the planet
without compromising on profit, which leaves
people more vulnerable to exploitation.

Green consumerism & perception

Growth of green consumer is 39%, which has
increased from 1 bln $(1990)-14 bln$(2005).
consumers in developed nations are more
environment conscious & also are ready to pay extra
for green & organic products.
While there is less awareness & willingness about
green products in developing nations.
Developing nations feel that ecological depletion is
due to developed nations
Consumers in developing nations look for value of
money, so hesitate in buying expensive green
products.

Organic Food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using
methods of organic farming that do not involve
modern synthetic inputs such as
synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Vegetables, processed food , fruits grown through
naturals means .
Special farms has been developed in US for organic
farming.
Reason behind consumption of Organic food was,
30% increase in disease through vegetables grown
by using pesticides.

In a survey by NEETF which is conducted every year. It was

found that public is not always aware of concerned about
environmental issues.

In another by Roper starch which publishes green gauge

report, survey on consumer attitudes about environment &
environmentally purchasing decisions.

Following were consumer attitudes which were broke down in

%
11% true blue greens
5% greenback greens
33% sprouts
18% Grousers
33% Basic Browns.

GREENWASHING
It is an act of disseminating disinformation by an
organization to present an environmentally
responsible public image.
For eg. ExxonMobil

Biggest Question :
Sustainability
Consumer always wants to MAXIMISE their utility.
LEADS to accomplishment of common goal
Environment.
Ever INCREASING DEMAND of green products
with population and economic growth.
o Sales of organic cotton triples ($900 million 06 $2.6billlion 08)

Meeting rising demand with commoditizing the

product and lowering price points.
Trend translation to all products.

 Is Green Consumerism actually GREEN???

Ethanol a substitute of Gasoline.

It is not the planets shortage but population ,

consumption, technology, and changing economy.
Ironic trend using technology for trade off b/w
economic development and environmental impact.
China known for bicycles highest car sales
bicycles become green product and trend reverses.
Penetration of green product to all strata of society
and all segments. (CHALLENGE)
Materializing buzzword exploiting customer NO
proper enforcing institution.
cont.

 Feel of environmental responsibility but does not

effect purchase criteria
Green Product expensive than conventional product
Governments role subsidies.
Recommendation Innovation in agricultural and
manufacturing process.

Thank You