The bluffer’s guide to carbon emissions
Sweeping your brand’s carbon footprint under the carpet is no longer an option. Climate change is now firmly lodged in the in-tray of the marketing department, and demands careful handling as an issue.
Consumer awareness of environmental issues has advanced to the point that many shoppers are now scrutinising product labels and origins. False promises, empty statements, and poorly thought out marketing campaigns can seriously damage brand value.
Research from The Carbon Trust earlier this year revealed that almost two-thirds of consumers are more likely to buy a product if they know action is being taken to reduce its carbon footprint.
It has just concluded another major piece of research with Future Laboratory* to establish how the British brands are behaving within the ‘low carbon economy’, and how consumers rate and read this commitment.
It found that people are not only interested in the environmental performance of products, but also the operations of the companies that make them. The wide availability of broadband means this information is open to scrutiny.
Consumers are also becoming increasingly carbon-literate. A quarter of consumers consider ‘being green’ an ‘essential’ subject.
However, almost half of consumers do not favour brands that align themselves to green causes, with 26% suggesting brands are focused on this area because it is a fad; 22% went as far as to suggest some businesses were guilty of greenwashing.
The bottom line is that they want brands to be green simply because it is the right thing to do, rather than because it is perceived to be the right thing to do.
When marketers and business representatives were asked how long their business had to build great carbon credentials, 15% said immediately, and 13% said this year. But the biggest portion (28%) felt they had until 2015 to demonstrate their carbon commitment.
According to The Carbon Trust, this sluggishness is worrying considering the urgent requirements that environmental legislation is already placing on companies to measure and report on carbon.
With this in mind, it has unveiled a series of top tips for marketers looking to improve and communicate their brand’s carbon footprint.
- The bigger the claim, the more likely it is to be challenged.
- Ensure your claim is backed by robust data, and where possible independently certified
- The message must be consistent in all communications from reports to adverts, websites to product packaging.
- Green claims also need to be kept up to date: what might be considered green today might be unacceptable tomorrow.
- This is not the time for meaningless hyperbole, all communication must be transparent and truthful
- Avoid tired and over used terms that are poorly defined e.g. ‘green’
Ultimately, it says it pays for marketers to take a long view, and appreciate that there might not even be a market in 20 years time if businesses fail to reduce their carbon emissions.
Harry Morrison, head of The Carbon Trust Standard, says: ‘The scale of the climate change challenge means that businesses need strategies to reduce their impact spanning many years or decades. Consumers will reward organisations that both recognise the long term challenge and make substantive improvements today – without hyping the short term impact.’
With consumers calling for environmental sustainability and strict regulations in place, this is an issue that marketers and organisations would be ill advised to ignore.
* Methodology: Alongside desk research two online surveys were conducted: one of 1,000 Britons across all ages (18 to 65) to quantify what, why, where and how they perceive and value ‘corporate carbon commitment’; and one of marketing directors/managers within 250 British businesses (100 medium and 150 large sized), spanning a variety of sectors. This survey quantified what, why, where and how they perceive ‘carbon commitment’ and the perceived marketing value, costs and benefits of being committed.
By Richard Abbott
