All sustainably conscious purchases require awareness from both sides of the transaction: a brand needs a value proposition that demonstrates a sustainable aspect of a product or service, and a customer needs to be conscious of the social or environmental issue it has an impact upon.
As brands explore building sustainability into their value propositions, consumer awareness of sustainability becomes a critical part of any business decision — but often this insight is missing.
Our 2022 research study responded to this business problem with the development of a ‘Sustainability Consciousness Score’, measuring consumer awareness of issues across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These goals are categorised under six dimensions of sustainability, allowing participants to be mapped on a bell curve of five groups from Negative to High levels of consciousness. The score represents the potential for brands to engage consumers with sustainable propositions.
This enables analysis of the distinct characteristics of each group in terms of their behaviours, attitudes, and demographics — supporting good business strategy and the design of sustainable products and services.
Our study shows that most consumers are still at the low consciousness end, although this has grown significantly in the past 12 months at this critical part of the spectrum, with mass media coverage of SDGs, and more brands launching sustainable propositions.
This overall shift to higher levels of consciousness is steady but not dramatic, and it would take 10 years at the current pace for the peak of the population curve to sit in the middle of the spectrum.
Sustainability consciousness is spread relatively evenly throughout the generational groups in the study, with Baby Boomers (born 1953–1964) being the most conscious overall group. Across the six dimensions of sustainability the goals these consumers, led by Baby Boomers, care most about are: ‘managing environmental resources’ and ‘conserving the natural world’.
Consciousness in Japan
In contrast with the activist-led image of conscious consumers in the West — Japan’s sustainability conscious are better defined as active, informed, and thoughtfully engaged people, who build deep relationships with the brands they care about across categories.
This makes them highly valued and influential customers.
They have the time and resources to engage with sustainable propositions, and are driving the need for innovation to meet their expectations around quality products and services, with sustainability being a primary way they define quality.
Japanese media have been most influential in triggering change in sustainability behaviours, with the influence of brands and environmental groups being skewed towards the higher consciousness groups.
The insight that brands are trusted sources for information on sustainability is a positive sign for the investments businesses are making. This is offset by a distrust in social media influencers and celebrities when it comes to sustainability, which is a problem for brands in categories like lifestyle, fashion, and sports who rely on them for their marketing.
The practice of boycotting brands is less common in Japan, and when it does happen it’s generally not about sustainability. This adds weight to the idea that category transitions are going to be driven by choosing better options, rather than rejecting legacy ones.
Consumer understanding
Contemporary ideas around sustainability, as framed by the SDGs, are a cultural import to Japan that differs from Japanese practices like sanpo-yoshi. Brands across categories are using these goals as a common framework for their sustainability strategies, making it important to understand awareness among Japanese consumers.
Our study found over the last year more people who scored low on sustainability consciousness have started to associate SDG issues with the word sustainability, raising the overall rate of association by 5%.
Mainstream consumer awareness is still limited, with most people in the low consciousness group unable to demonstrate knowledge of any specific goals. At the same time this low group have shown the most growth in overall awareness of sustainability between 2021 and 2022.
Lower consciousness groups are more likely to associate sustainability with economic issues that have a direct impact on their quality of life, while higher consciousness groups are more aware of environmental issues.
There is a critical need to increase alignment between consumer awareness and national priorities. Gender equality and protecting life on land being highlighted by the UN as challenges for Japan, but there is a bias toward environmental over social issues among consumers. This gap is starting to close as social issues are slowly being recognised by mainstream audiences.
The most familiar SDG is life below water, a key issue for an island nation with seafood as a primary food source. Sustainable food production connects to a complex set of social, economic, environmental, and geopolitical factors, making it a shared issue across Japanese society.
Communities in Japan are also increasingly impacted by climate change at a local level, with challenges for traditional ways of life that are connected to the land and seasons, tying to substantial issues around regional revitalisation.
For brands trying to play a meaningful role in these issues, they should note that the SDGs still feel foreign and remote to mainstream consumers.
Consumer shifts
In terms of consumer shifts, product packaging is the part of sustainability with the most substantial change in beliefs over 2021–2022, with around a 25% jump. Over 90% of consumers believe there is too much packaging on the products they buy, and 77% would switch brands for more sustainable packaging.
This shift was likely driven by repeated states of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where an increase in delivery and food related packaging was arriving in small Japanese homes, leading to a new build up of home rubbish. This has coincided with ongoing media coverage around the issue, with stories around ocean plastic, circular innovation, and general anti-plastic sentiment.
For brands looking to make an impactful start to their sustainability transformation, packaging is an open opportunity.
Positive impact
‘Agency’ — the belief in the power to change systems through your actions — is generally low in Japan, with just 25% of people believing their actions can change companies, markets, or the world.
In terms of generations, Generation Z (born 1997–2007) feel the most empowered about their agency at around 33%, while Millennials (born 1981–1996) feel the least, with their increased socio-economic responsibilities reducing their optimism.
Consumers who feel agency also feel a sense of responsibility for the implications of their lifestyles, and are three times more likely to engage in ways to reduce their impact. For brands this means framing their sustainability propositions in a way that enables positive impact, and gives people clear actions they can take.
Agency around environmental issues has increased from 22% to 24% between 2021–2022, although this is polarised across sustainability consciousness levels, at 10% for the low group and 98% for the high.
This belief in the ability to achieve environmental impact is higher than general social agency, suggesting that these high consumers see new opportunities for impact outside the traditional economy, as well as through making brand choices.
Overall these results suggest that by only focusing on the low consciousness mainstream, brands will miss underlying shifts in sustainability literacy.
These shifts open up opportunities with highly conscious groups, while incentivising sustainable options for the mainstream — parallel objectives that many organisations are already moving toward.
Transition dynamics
There is a sweet spot of people who want more sustainable products and services at a higher level of ease and accessibility. This group are most common at the moderate consciousness level. This creates an opportunity for brands to create value by answering their needs, both for incumbents innovating their products and services, or challengers entering new categories.
A category transition towards sustainability typically starts with new propositions entering at the premium end, which then steadily becomes more common and accessible.
Unlike daily purchases, bigger decisions around products like cars come with sustainability implications throughout their use, making them particularly important. These category transitions can be difficult to follow for consumers, even at higher consciousness levels, and most people will fail to do the research if the value proposition is too complicated.
In these contexts government policy and regulation play an important role in setting the course and removing uncertainty, which is why brands connect with government through trade bodies and lobbying.
In all cases, brands that can tell compelling stories and ensure consumer choices are easy will be valued in an era of sustainable transitions. Transitions will proceed fastest when sustainability comes with direct, tangible benefits to the consumer, and when decisions are complex or value propositions are unclear, transitions will slow down.
Emotional benefits are powerful, and conscious consumers are already feeling a sense of pride in sustainable purchases, making sustainable impact part of their identity. This drives a positive feedback loop for brands, where customers start to share the brand with their peers, using them as a trusted representation of their values and beliefs.
This opportunity is actionable by brands and businesses of all sizes. Larger companies like Tesla have achieved this globally, making electric vehicles aspirational to a mass audience, catalysing their entire industry. In contrast, small Japanese startups like mymizu have designed clever recognition mechanics into their experience, creating a virtuous cycle that builds engagement.
The food category is one place these category transitions and loops are already having an impact, driven by the systemic interconnectedness between sustainability and health.
Conscious consumerism is more apparent in food than in any other category, making food a nexus of sustainability beliefs, and a space that can already provide lessons for brands and organisations looking to drive social and environmental impact.
