More than two-thirds of Americans say they are now concerned about climate change, and a majority expect fellow Americans to be willing to change their consumption habits as a result. Consumers’ habit and lifestyle changes to help reduce the impacts of climate change will create both pressure and opportunities for companies to reassess their business models and marketing.

Insights for What’s Ahead

• Even if consumers are willing to change their habits, they need to first understand the ecological impact of their specific behaviors. Companies have a vital role in engaging and educating consumers on climate-friendly behaviors.
• Changing consumer buying patterns, including cutting back on consumption in general, can affect many companies’ revenue streams. This may require a reassessment of product and service lines and go-to-market strategies.
• Though initial costs may be high, companies’ transition to more sustainable products can, over time, create scale-based cost efficiencies and other benefits, allowing a lower price premium. Keeping the price of sustainable products down can foster broader adoption.

The Impact of Changing Consumer Attitudes Related to Climate Change

The more than 2,000 US respondents to our survey, conducted jointly with The Harris Poll, believe Americans are most willing to change behaviors related to recycling and reusing and minimizing food waste. Almost half expect people to buy fewer things. A significant portion of respondents, especially the higher-income segment, anticipates that Americans will invest in clean energy technologies such as home solar panels (52 percent) and electric cars (44 percent) to protect the environment. Not surprisingly, Americans expect a voluntary reduction of creature comforts such as heating, air conditioning, car use, and eating animal products to be relatively less likely. Still, at least a third of our respondents think their fellow Americans are up for even these kinds of habit changes. Overall, it’s younger, higher-income, Hispanic, and Asian, as well as male consumers who anticipate behavior change the most.

Even if consumers are willing to change their habits, they need to first understand the ecological impact of their specific behaviors. Companies have a vital role in engaging and educating consumers on climate-friendly behaviors. Although 68 percent of respondents say they know how their behavior affects harmful greenhouse gas emissions, some segments (e.g., Gen Z and boomer+) report lower awareness. Plus, even those confident about their climate education might not be able to assess the relative impact of habit changes and certain behaviors, such as meat consumption, on climate change. Businesses can explain the environmental footprint of certain behaviors and serve as role models for customers and employees on the eco-conscious use of resources such as electricity, heat, air conditioning, water, and food, as well as practices such as recycling and reducing waste.

The concern about climate change among a vast majority of Americans may evoke habit changes, creating challenges and opportunities for businesses

Consumers’ willingness to change habits also requires industry’s further progress on innovative technologies such as clean energy and food solutions to make a transition practical, affordable, and minimally disruptive for consumers

Changing consumer buying patterns, including cutting back on consumption in general, can affect many companies’ revenue streams. This may require a reassessment of product and service lines and go-to-market strategies. Apart from launching environmentally friendly products, an additional new source of revenue could be branching into climate-friendly services that, for example, don’t pollute or that use less energy. Another route to consider is building brand equity by upscaling the brand with more environmentally positive associations, which can enable premium pricing (generating higher margins) and attract new customers. Patagonia, an upscale outdoor clothing and equipment maker, is a prime example of this with its encouragement of less consumption, promoted by its unusual and counterintuitive “Don’t buy this jacket” ad campaign encouraging people to consider the effect of consumerism on the environment and purchase only what they need. The firm also facilitates repairs of clothing and equipment and secondhand sales of Patagonia items.

Though initial costs may be high, companies’ transition to more sustainable products can, over time, create scale-based cost efficiencies and other benefits, allowing a lower price premium. Keeping the price of sustainable products down can foster broader adoption.Making operations more efficient, reducing waste by revising production and planning processes, and usingrecycledmaterials can save production costs over time and limit higher sustainability-caused costs to end users. In fact, cost savings could be passed on to consumers; some hotels do this, for example, when they reward guests for reducing the frequency of towel and linen changes during their stay with vouchers or discounts. Moreover, a focus on sustainability can foster innovation and help a company be more resilient in an economic downturn, as a report by The Conference Board explains.

A recession may cause various consumption changes that can both hurt and benefit the environment—and certain businesses. Inflation-battered wallets and a weaker economy may cause consumers to cut back on consumption, but they may also seek out inexpensive options that are less likely to be sustainable versions of products. The pressure on people’s discretionary budgets makes less expensive, stripped-down versions of products and services popular—think private label brands, food trucks as a more affordable food service, and no-frills airlines. This popularity also offers new opportunities for secondhand and rental businesses in all kinds of categories—from fashion to furniture to electronics—benefiting the environment by reducing resource use.

People’s interest in changing their consumption habits for the environment while weathering an economic downturn is likely to vary by demographic. This makes segment-specific targeting even more important. People who are not as affected financially by economic weakness might still be willing and able to pay premium prices for sustainable versions of products and services. For example, our research finds that Asian Americans are least likely to let high inflation affect their interest in purchasing sustainable products. Companies could focus their marketing efforts even more on such segments. They could also consider promotions for the most sustainability-enthusiastic segments, including millennial and urban consumers; our research shows these two segments are among those most likely to cut back on purchasing sustainable products because of inflation. Temporary targeted promotions could keep these segments loyal, both as customers and as “sustainability influencers” to other segments. Promotions can also create goodwill for sustainable brands by signaling their appreciation of sustainability-committed customers during tougher economic times.

While there is growing consumer enthusiasm for electric cars and solar panels, investment cost and practical issues are still barriers for broad and fast adoption. Incentives and messaging could help. While still small at 5 percent, the share of new electric cars registered in the US has doubled since 2021, with predictions of 28 percent and 59 percent for 2028 and 2035, respectively. Solar energy production, including by residential users, has also developed, although solar energy still made up just 2.8 percent of US electricity generation in 2021. Governmental incentives and support such as tax credits for e-car and home solar panel purchases, as well as funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for e-car charging stations and further clean energy development, may facilitate adoption to some degree. In addition, advertising emphasizing the benefits of electric cars (though there are arguments that these benefits only accrue over time given the environmental cost of production) and solar energy, including less dependence on the power grid for energy storage–equipped homes, could also increase people’s willingness to adopt alternative technologies and thus spur consumer investment—as long as people’s anxiety about sufficient battery range and consistent solar energy supply can be overcome.

People’s attitudes might demand an even greater transformation of the food industry than it has already faced in recent years. It might also have ripple effects on the health care and pharmaceutical sectors. Apart from the wellness- and lifestyle-driven trend toward more vegetarian diets and generally healthier eating, environmental motives might further fuel the trend to reduce the consumption of animal-based foods if people understood the connection to the environment. Consequently, the focus of physicians, hospitals, and health insurance and pharmaceutical companies might shift to some extent from treating diet-related conditions to promoting preventive care. People’s apparent openness to minimizing household food waste may continue to challenge food manufacturers to rethink policies and practices, including product assortments and recipes (to focus on healthy items, ideally with some shelf life), package sizes, pricing for smaller quantities, and so forth.

Methodology and Collaboration of The Conference Board with The Harris Poll

This report is the first of four reports from our survey of US consumer perceptions of corporate sustainability. The other reports cover US consumers’ prioritization of buying usually higher-priced sustainable products in the context of high inflation and a weakening economy; which sustainability features drive US consumers’ purchases and how they compare to previous years; and what consumers think of companies’ sustainability action and communications, related to both environmental and social dimensions.

The survey is a collaboration between The Conference Board and The Harris Poll. It builds on related research in 2021, as covered in Sustainability Features That Sway US Consumers Are Changing and US Consumers Want Business to Do More on Sustainability. The current survey ran in the US from September 2 to 4, 2022, and yielded responses from 2,025 adults. Results are weighted to represent the US adult population.

We greatly appreciate the ongoing partnership with Rob Jekielek, Managing Director at The Harris Poll, who made this research possible.