Introduction
How can we be hearing chatter about the criticality of “Business Resilience” and at the same time also be reading food industry reports about senior leadership losing focus on ESG? Could ESG have just been a management fad? Could it be industry-wide short-sightedness? Has ESG now become a political football that senior leaders no longer want to handle? The answer is a mixture of all the above but not in the way you would expect.
Climate change seems to be an everyday headline or part of our personal experiences. The Canadian fires and smoke that Canada, the NE and Midwest US are experiencing make us pause in realizing there are ripple effects of climate change that go way beyond personal inconveniences. In the food industry, climate change is impacting agriculture that supports the supply chains for our food systems. Climate change impacts the costs and access to water and energy needed for manufacturing. Climate change impacts our employees. Climate change impacts consumers. As such, the ripple effects of climate change impacts innovation, renovation, and the marketing of food products.
In research we conducted in August 2022, we found among primary US shoppers that nearly half are aspirational to buy, but only about 15% are buying more sustainable products. That means 30-35% are aspirational but not buying for various reasons. We discovered the four main barriers to buying more sustainably are availability, confusion, concerns about product performance and affordability. These aspirations are no fad and in some conditions are growing momentum alongside education about and awareness of climate change events, which are certain to ensure this becomes a long-term trend.
This research found that shoppers are feeling considerable “tensions” about climate change and seek products that help them take action to alleviate it. Every climate event that consumers experience or hear about serves to reinforce the belief that climate change is real and caused by an increase in greenhouse gas.
Being climate-smart starts with mapping these Tensions to Market Landscapes to discover emerging segments and opportunities to design, develop and market products that will address these tensions.
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