Interesting Consumer Study done by Forum for the Future. Though I doubt that sustainable products and services will be mainstream by 2020, I think there’s still a long way ahead. Read below for the press release and also check out the studies – very interesting stuff in there. Best, Oliver
THE FUTURE IS GREEN: SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES TO BE MAINSTREAM BY 2020 SAYS NEW STUDY
Sustainable products and services will be mainstream by 2020, Forum for the Future claimed today, as they launched a study with Sainsbury’s and Unilever, designed to help the consumer goods industry meet the needs of the consumer of the future. Household brands and retailers will help make green living normal and easier for millions of people around the world, and progress towards sustainable consumption will not be knocked off course by a weak global economy, they said.
Sainsbury’s Chief Executive, Justin King, said: “Sustainability will continue to rise higher up the agenda over the coming years, so it is key that brands work to ensure they can respond to consumer demand. Being a sustainable company is not about box ticking, it’s about future-proofing your business and building trust and brand loyalty that will last for years to come.”
Amanda Sourry, Chairman, Unilever UK & Ireland, said: “The old model of ever greater consumption, with growth at any price, is broken. Companies that succeed in the future will be those that reduce their environmental impact whilst increasing their social and economic impacts.”
Consumer Futures 2020 contains four scenarios which explore how global trends may change our world, consumer behaviour and the consumer goods industry over the next decade. In each scenario social and environmental pressures drive sustainable goods and services into the mainstream, whether or not consumers actively demand them and regardless of whether the global economy is thriving or subdued.
It is designed as a practical tool to help retailers, brands and manufacturers throughout the global consumer goods industry plan for the future. Sainsbury’s and Unilever plan to use it as a platform for collaboration and innovation, jointly developing profitable and sustainable initiatives that will help them meet the ambitious commitments in Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan and Sainsbury’s five corporate responsibility values.
Dr Sally Uren, Deputy CEO of Forum for the Future, said: “Smart brands and businesses will make money today by accelerating the transition to a sustainable future. They need to make it easy for consumers to go green by offering products and services which are not just better for the environment, but healthier, cheaper and longer-lasting.”
Sainsbury’s, Unilever and Forum for the Future pooled their knowledge to develop four very different but plausible possible worlds of 2020, focussing on consumers’ attitudes and behaviour. Each shows how different aspects of sustainable consumption have become mainstream.
In ‘My way’, mainstream consumers buy locally, strengthening their local economies. Vertical farming is widespread, producing more food per unit of land. Sustainable living is high-tech and easy; products such as the personal energy micro-manager help reduce energy consumption and build personal relationships via on-line competitions.
In ‘Sell it to me’, brands and businesses have taken a lot of the hard work out of being sustainable, driven by resource scarcity and a global deal on climate change. Retailers have taken unsustainable products off the shelves and smart products and services are commonplace – all designed to reduce their in-use impacts.
In ‘From Me to You’, communities are again strengthened by local food and energy production. Resources are valued much more highly than today because they are scarce and expensive, and there is little or no waste. Goods exchanges are mainstream, encouraging recycling and re-use of goods and resources, from fridges to grey water.
Finally, in ‘I’m in your hands’, the product to service shift has become mainstream. Retailers and brands lease a lifetime’s supply of key goods, and now also provide heat, water and nutrition. Strict government legislation and economies of scale mean that these leasing models are highly sustainable. Consumers take a ‘waste not, want not’ attitude and expect government and business to take the lead on delivering sustainability.
In a joint foreword to Consumer Futures 2020 Mr King, Ms Sourry and Dr Uren say that global challenges such as climate change, scarcity of key resources and rapid population growth “make it essential for us to reorient our global economy around sustainable, low-carbon patterns of consumption.“
They add: “Successful brands will need to innovate to meet challenges like these, develop sustainable products, services and business models, and work with consumers to make them a success”.
The scenarios are the fruit of an 18-month collaboration between Sainsbury’s, Unilever, and Forum for the Future. They build on Forum’s 2007 Retail Futures scenarios, which explored the future of the UK retail industry, and draw on insights from senior executives from Sainsbury’s and Unilever in interviews and workshops.
The scenarios are robust and plausible portrayals of possible futures but are not designed to be predictions. They are a tool to understand how global challenges such as climate change, scarcity of key resources and rapid population growth may play out and affect the consumer attitudes and the consumer goods industry.
The ideas, fictional brands and stories in the Consumer Futures materials are designed to bring the scenarios to life, they are not predictions of what the future will hold nor do they represent what Sainsbury’s or Unilever plan to bring to market.
From Monday 10th October, the Consumer Futures 2020 toolkit and accompanying resources will be available to download free from http://www.forumforthefuture.org/project/consumer-futures-2020/overview.
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