Citizens and lifestyles

Mass consumption and environmental respect: is it possible to combine these two aspects of our age? Are citizens in tune with the much-trumpeted issue of the “sustainability” of contemporary lifestyles? The European Union – whose policies include both consumer protection and the safeguard of the environment and measures to combat climate change – has long insisted on the need to reconcile these priorities and just a year ago, in July 2008, the Commission presented an action plan on sustainable production and consumption.“Ecological” lifestyles and goods. The commitment, implemented at the national and EU level, to raise the awareness of citizens, families and businesses on the need to defend the environment also through more “sustainable” consumption, seems to be yielding its first tangible results. Indeed four Europeans out of five now declare they are ready to take environmental impact into account in making their own purchases. On the other hand, Europeans are divided on the credibility of producers regarding the environmental efficiency of their products; many believe indeed that retailers should play a more pro-active role in promoting ecological products, for example by giving greater visibility to them on their shelves. Eurobarometer published the results on a survey dedicated to the “attitudes of Europeans to sustainable consumption and production” on 29 July. In the light of its findings, European Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas declared: “The battle against climate change must be fought on all fronts and everybody must make his own contribution, not just businesses and governments, but also consumers”. Signal to producers. According to Dimas, “by purchasing products that respect the environment, the consumer sends the right signal to producers, who will respond in turn by producing more ecological products”. The Commissioner’s message is a positive one. In actual fact, the lifestyles of Europeans increasingly tend at uncurbed consumption. Moreover, the products available on the market are often far from respectful of the environment (it’s enough to think of the disproportionate quantity of packaging that “protects” food products and that results in huge piles of waste materials that are difficult to recycle) and a large part of the businesses that place consumer goods on the market consider the “environmental question” a factor that is not always decisive in the chain of production and distribution. An important aspect. Nonetheless, it can be said that there is growing sensitivity to the question. For example, the new Eurobarometer survey found that the “overwhelming majority of Europeans (83%) declared that the environmental impact of a product is an important factor is their purchasing decisions”. In this regard the most ecologically aware are shown to be the Greeks, 92% of whom declare they take into account the environmental impact of the products they buy, while the least sensitive are allegedly the Czechs (62%). The citizens interviewed during the survey, on the other hand, are sharply divided when it comes to expressing their views on the “credibility of the statements made by manufacturers about the environmental efficiency of their products: 49% consider them credible, 48% don’t”. The most trustful are the Dutch (78%), the most sceptical the Bulgarians (26%).Fiscal lever. But what solutions should be adopted to ensure that markets and consumers contribute to the safeguard of the creation? According to the polling agency, “approximately 46% of EU citizens consider that the best way to promote ecological products would be to increase taxation on products that are damaging for the environment” and reduce that on “ecological” goods. The most favourable to this two-pronged intervention at the level of taxation are the British: “the least favourable are the Maltese (28%), who prefer that interventions should be limited to reducing tax on ecological products”. At the same time, Europeans are of the view that retailers should more actively promote ecological products: 49% of the sample believe “they should increase the visibility of such products on their shelves or have a corner reserved for ecological products”. 31% maintain that the best way for retailers to promote ecological products to “furnish information to consumers”.Quality mark. The sample of interviewees seems far less sensitive to the issue to the production of greenhouse gases as part of the production and commercial cycle (transport) of consumer products. The Eurobarometer survey says: “Though just under half of Europeans declare that the ecological quality mark plays any important role in their purchasing decisions and only 1 in 10 declare that the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions created by a product ought to be included in environmental labelling, some 72% of EU citizens think that a label indicating the carbon emissions deriving from a product ought in future to be compulsory”.