European attitudes on sustainable consumption and production

A recently conducted Eurobarometer poll (Flash 256) entitled ‘Europeans’ attitudes towards the issue of sustainable consumption and production’ has explored the views that European citizens hold on product sustainability. The poll, which surveyed the attitudes of citizens in all 27 EU Member States plus Croatia, revealed that a large majority of respondents (8 in 10) feel that a product’s impact on the environment is an important element when deciding which product to buy (34% ‘very important’ and 49% ‘rather important’). 6 in 10 interviewees rate environmental impact as more important than a product’s brand name in terms of influencing product purchasing decisions. Tellingly, however, only a minority rated environmental impact as more important than a product’s quality or price (7% and 19%, respectively).

While consumers show an obvious and unsurprising preference for lowering taxes on environmentally friendly products over increasing taxes for environmentally damaging products, a majority of interviewees in almost half of the countries surveyed show a preference for a combination of lower taxes for environmentally friendly products and increased taxes for environmentally damaging products (Britain, Ireland and Slovenia showing the greatest enthusiasm for such a scheme).

Support for introducing a mandatory label indicating a product’s carbon footprint ranged from 47% in the Czech Republic – the only country where less than half of respondents were in favour of such labelling – to 9 in 10 respondents in Croatia and Greece.