Green Marketing Failing: Report

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OAKLAND, Calif. -- The number of people concerned about climate change continues growing, but they aren't convinced that the business sector is doing as much as it should.

That's because companies are failing to adequately communicate their climate change-related efforts to ever-weary consumers, says a new report from the Climate Group and brand consulting company Lippincott. The situation is complicated by the diversity in consumer attitudes toward climate change.

"Companies need to understand their customers' different views on climate change and then find ways to act and communciate that are relevant to their customers as well as their brands," David Hensley, a senior partner at Lippincott, told GreenBiz.com via email.

The survey included 1,000 respondents from the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany and France. The majority of respondents in the U.S. and U.K. couldn't name a single brand that is showing leadership in addressing climate change. The few that could named GE, BP, Toyota, Wal-Mart and Exxon as the leading U.S. companies battling climate change. This indicates that consumers aren't eschewing high-emissions industries, where emissions reduction can have a large environmental impact.

Companies approach climate change communications gingerly. "Some companies are also cautious about over-communicating or over-promising, wary about allegations of greenwash," Hensley said. "This caution may also be reducing communications down to a lowest common denominator."

Hensley said real action is the best way to overcome consumer weariness. Campaigners -- those that are deeply commited to fighting climate change but need solid evidence to support a company's green claims -- comprise the largest segment of respondents.

"As the segment of consumers we call 'campaigners' continues to grow, these are people who are very concerned about the climate change issue but also relatively skeptical," Hensley said. "So they need to see real action in ways that are fitting with their industry and their brand, which is, of course, the best defense against accusations of greenwashing."

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