Why do ordinary people also need to know a bit about "sustainable consumption"? ESG | Consumers | Ordinary People

In recent years, with the increasing attention of governments, investors, and consumers to sustainability and social responsibility, "ESG" has become one of the important keywords in corporate investment decision-making.

The pursuit of "sustainable development" by some enterprises is further implemented as the pursuit of "sustainable production" that does not pollute and is more environmentally friendly, and they are trying to work together with consumers to pursue a more environmentally friendly life. The concept of "sustainable consumption" comes from this.

How can the concept of "sustainable consumption" gain wider recognition? What new changes will its popularization and promotion bring to business and even social life? Associate Professor Xu Qian from the Marketing Department of the School of Management at Fudan University brings her research findings.

"Sustainable consumption" is no longer an advanced topic

Looking at the news: Your main research area is consumer behavior. Why has "sustainable consumption" become your main research direction?

Xu Qian: Many years ago, as a marketing scholar, while studying the national policy guidelines on sustainable development strategies, I learned about various concepts related to sustainable development, including "dual carbon", "zero carbon", "carbon reduction", "carbon neutrality", and so on.

At that time, the national level was striving to promote more enterprises to pursue "green development" and "energy conservation and emission reduction", and almost all evaluation indicators were placed on the end of "sustainable production". This prompts me to think: as a marketing scholar, what can I do to "green" and "reduce emissions"?

A real challenge lies before us. If the implementation cost and efficiency requirements of the entire sustainable development strategy only fall on the production side, this matter will become a unilateral work and responsibility of the enterprise, which will increase the burden on the enterprise. And if consumers are unwilling to pay for products and business practices that advocate for "green" and "emission reduction," a closed-loop system of "production sales consumption" cannot be formed. It is even more difficult to encourage consumers to actively break out of the "buy buy buy lose lose lose lose lose lose" cycle and benefit from a "sustainable consumption" lifestyle.

That is to say, what I need to think about is how to achieve advanced concepts such as sustainable development, green environmental protection, and ESG simultaneously on the consumer end, and have the possibility of monetization. Only in this way can concepts such as "sustainable development", "green environmental protection", and "ESG" be realized, injecting new momentum into the long-term development of future business while promoting business to bring more benefits to humanity.

What have you gained from studying "sustainable consumption" for many years?

Xu Qian: Overall, after years of effort, "ESG" is becoming an important keyword in investment decisions for more and more enterprises. Both entrepreneurs and academia have found that in order to pursue a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, it is not enough for businesses to rely solely on non polluting, less polluting, and more use of environmentally friendly materials. Consumers also need to make efforts on this end.

It is gratifying that young people nowadays are willing to engage in discussions on environmental protection and sustainable consumption. They not only actively recognize relevant concepts, but also actively explore the possibility of implementing them in their daily lives. There are research results showing that the younger generation is more willing to purchase products that are more environmentally friendly and have a positive impact on the long-term development of society when receiving equal benefits.

Perhaps 10 years ago, even I felt that this consumption concept was a bit advanced, and there were few specific consumption scenarios that could truly enable consumers to practice this consumption concept.

But now, the difficulty of collecting cases for researching related topics in academia has decreased significantly. Recently, I heard of a case. In my opinion, it can reflect the current development direction of sustainable consumption and provide inspiration for our next research.

In June this year, the Shanghai International Carbon Neutrality Technology, Products and Achievements Expo opened at the National Convention and Exhibition Center.

The four-day expo consists of three parts: themed exhibitions, a series of forums, and trade docking activities, covering six major sections. The exhibition covers an area of 100000 square meters and invites nearly 600 well-known domestic and foreign enterprises to participate.

This is the first domestic expo with the theme of "carbon neutrality", and it is also an important measure for Shanghai to serve the country's "dual carbon" strategy. Information images

It's not easy to upgrade the concept, but it's hard to think about how to communicate with consumers

Looking at the news: Is this a story about practitioners of sustainable consumption?

Xu Qian: More precisely, this is a story about how practitioners of "sustainable production" choose to communicate with their consumers.

Those who are familiar with Baijiu enterprises may know that Baijiu has "six golden flowers", namely Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao, Jiannanchun, Tuopai, Quanxing Daqu and Langjiu. Since the 1970s, the parent company of Tuopai liquor, Shede Liquor Industry, has proposed the concept of "ecological brewing" and put it into practice, investing huge amounts of money to create an ecological brewing industrial park covering an area of 6.5 square kilometers. At present, the greening rate of the industrial park has reached 98.5%. The approach of Shede Liquor Industry can be regarded as an active practitioner of sustainable production.

However, in 2019, Shede Liquor Industry faced enterprise transformation and brand upgrading. After a fierce internal and external discussion, Shede Liquor Industry gave up highlighting information related to ecological and environmental investment and environmental effects in product promotion, and used the slogan "Every bottle of Shede Liquor is old wine" as the main line of brand upgrading, which focuses more on consumer experience and sense of gain. In the following years, the wine industry market performed well. From 2020 to 2022, Shede Winery's annual sales increased from 2 billion yuan to 6 billion yuan, which can be said to be quite successful.

Looking at the news: Many people may not understand that a company that gives up telling the public about its investment in ecological and environmental protection ultimately receives decent market returns. What does this mean?

Xu Qian: The reason why I am sharing this case is to tell everyone that "corporate ecological and environmental protection investment" and "corporate contribution to the environment and society" are good, but so far, they are only "optional" for most consumers. Compared to these "options," the core concern of consumers is still the tangible value that brands and products can bring to themselves. Shede Liquor Industry recognizes this, so when promoting, it chooses to focus on the core concerns of consumers, tell stories, and promote its products.

Should a company disclose its investment in ecological and environmental protection to the public? For such a "dilemma", many enterprises that choose "sustainable development" and "sustainable production" will encounter it in the future. When you give your all and put in a huge effort, can you resist not speaking? The problem is, how to tell consumers really requires entrepreneurs to think about it.

For example, a study shows that when companies communicate with consumers, promoting themselves as "paying high costs to achieve environmental protection" may not necessarily win favor. Some consumers may even believe that this is a manifestation of companies relatively neglecting consumer interests. On the contrary, when companies promote "green" and "environmental protection" as "added value" and "by-products", consumers are more receptive and more likely to develop a favorable impression of the company as a result.

That is to say, currently, consumers' attitudes towards issues related to sustainable consumption are still in a volatile and ambiguous stage, with many variables affecting their judgment. Guiding them to genuinely identify with "sustainable consumption" and believe that their choices can bring tangible ecological and environmental value is both crucial and challenging.

Research shows that although terms such as "carbon peak", "carbon neutrality", and "ESG" are often seen in the media today, many people have heard of them, but not many truly understand their connotations. This means that in order to bring these future oriented concepts into our ears and hearts, we still need to find ways to make these concepts frequently appear in people's faces and minds in an approachable way. In a more fashionable way, it means making them popular "traffic keywords" in people's daily lives.

The world's first 35 kV kilometer level superconducting cable demonstration project is displayed at the State Grid booth. Information images

Exchange sincerity for sincerity in order to win wider recognition

Looking at the news: Do you have any suggestions to make "sustainable consumption", "ESG" and other popular "traffic keywords" in everyone's daily life?

Xu Qian: I believe that "youthfulness", "gamification", and "exchanging sincerity for sincerity" are the key.

Let's start with "youthfulness". Our research has found that consumers aged 26 to 31 are the main target audience for promoting concepts such as sustainable consumption and ESG. Why? Because consumers in this age group have two main characteristics. Firstly, compared to other groups, they express a higher willingness to protect the environment. Secondly, they are more willing to see themselves labeled as "green and environmentally friendly", and are willing to see themselves perceived and respected for valuing and advocating more advanced living concepts. Being perceived and respected is very important for the younger generation.

JD and Procter&Gamble once planned an event called "Non Carbon Youth Summoning Order" to promote the concept of green living and encourage people to reduce carbon emissions in the consumption process. This "non carbon gas" not only incorporates the concept of "non carbon" and "carbon free", but also uses a pun to make it easy for participants to remember the activity name.

Young people inevitably encounter some difficulties and discomfort in life. Whenever you need to sigh, can you "sigh less" or "not sigh"? In this way, many people easily remember the word "non carbon gas" through humorous and heartfelt communication.

Similar planning is actually a combination of youthfulness and lifestyle, combining "non carbon" and "carbon free" with the things we encounter and talk about every day in our lives.

Let's talk about gamification. In fact, activities planned for the younger generation of consumers nowadays tend to emphasize gamification, but how to use gamification to convey the concept of green living is a test of skill.

During a music festival event aimed at young people, Mars Food collaborated with the festival to make a plan. The inspiration for planning stems from the fact that after many music festivals, people can always find "a mess on the ground" when the crowd recedes. So, the planning team thought to themselves, is there any good way to encourage everyone to take their trash home after watching the music festival.

In order to achieve this effect, they have rewritten the lyrics of many well-known popular songs, invited live audiences to use their phones to generate beautiful and fun posters, shared them on social media, and made them more enjoyable for more people to enjoy.

"I'll send you away, thousands of miles away. I advise you not to come back." "Pick up the garbage thrown by someone, burn my calories." "Follow my left and right hands in a slow motion, and my right and left hands in a slow motion to pick it up."... Who could have thought that these are all "slogans" advocating not to litter? Upon seeing these adapted lyrics, most viewers not only chuckle and hum heartily, but are also willing to share them casually and become advocates for environmental friendliness.

So, such a unique "gamified" communication method can allow some good ideas to influence each other among consumers, which is also favored by people in this era.

Green travel displayed at the Huayi Group booth. Information images

Finally, let's talk about "exchanging sincerity for sincerity". In the process of dialogue and communication with consumers, no matter how difficult they encounter, "exchanging sincerity for sincerity" is always an effective path.

There is a well-known outdoor sports brand in the United States that is very unique. Its brand slogan is "Earth is our sole shareholder". The meaning conveyed by this sentence is that they are a company that values environmental protection and sustainable development. They attach great importance to the Earth and consider it their important and sole shareholder. As mentioned earlier, when companies tell similar concepts or stories, there are actually risks involved. Consumers may not necessarily believe it, and may even have misunderstandings - the Earth is your only shareholder, what about me? But interestingly, the promotion of this brand was successful. The brand not only demonstrates through extensive practical actions that it values the environment and the earth, but also effectively integrates this with the interests of consumers.

The annual Black Friday in the United States is similar to the Double Eleven shopping festival in our country. During the shopping festival, when other brands were encouraging everyone to buy, this one went against the trend by buying full page pages in newspapers and posting posters, advocating for rational consumption.

Due to their firm belief that "capital" and "business" can bring positive benefits to society and the environment, they not only use products to encourage the public to love nature, but also donate a considerable portion of their wealth to environmental public welfare. At least in my opinion, they are sincere and have always insisted on doing what they believe in.

We also have similar successful cases in China. For example, during the epidemic, Hongxing Erke encouraged everyone to make rational purchases and not buy shoes that they couldn't wear temporarily, which won the favor of customers. So, exchanging sincerity for sincerity is possible. The premise is not to do it with a utilitarian purpose, so that consumers will believe you.

So, I believe that advocating for "sustainable development", "sustainable production", and "sustainable consumption" not only injects new momentum into business, such as building an ecological brewing industrial park for the liquor industry, but also can change consumer attitudes and enhance their internal environmental motivation through practical and effective ways, such as the various cases of "exchanging sincerity for sincerity" mentioned above.

However, in future practice, we need to carry out this career more skillfully and efficiently. In order to make sustainability a necessity rather than just an option, we need to bring more consumers to stand with us.

China Shipbuilding Exhibition Stand.