Survey: Consumers Growing Greener -- And They'll Shell Out The Green To Prove It

By Richard Read

Richard Read

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Richard Read is a car writer, covering marketing, technology, social media, and other auto industry topics for High Gear Media. With a background in... More

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James Cameron, Suzy Amis with 2011 Chevy Volt at Global Green Pre-Oscar Party, Feb 2011

With gas prices barreling toward $4 per gallon, there's lots of talk on the evening news about consumers shopping for fuel-efficient cars. In fact, many theorists see $4 as the tipping point at which car buyers prioritize fuel economy above all other criteria. But a new survey indicates that people aren't just interested in greener cars to save money; they're buying them because they're morally superior to other products.

The data comes from an online survey of U.S. adults sponsored by NBC Universal -- a follow-up to a similar poll carried out in 2009. The 2011 stats for the "Green is Universal" survey show increasing support for eco-minded products, companies, and policies, and indicate that the public is willing to pay more for green items in the marketplace.

Given all the brou-ha-ha we often hear about "eco-terrorism" and climate change hoaxes, it's surprising to learn that 93% of those surveyed feel a personal obligation to take care of the planet, and 91% believe that if they don't, future generations will suffer. It's entirely possible that certain politicians and talk radio personalities are behind the curve on this one.

Moreover, about 90% of the survey's respondents say that corporations have a responsibility to go green, both in their products and in their workplaces. When a company does so, the payoffs can be huge: of those surveyed, 77% say that their impression of a company improves if it supports environmental causes, and 62% say that they try to purchase products from those companies because of their eco-friendly actions. On the flip side, only 27% of survey participants said that they had actively boycotted a company due to its lack of green policies or products -- not a huge number, but environmentalists can take heart in the fact that it's up 9% from just two years ago.

OUR TAKE

The big takeaway from the "Green is Universal" poll is that the American public is growing ever greener. Consumers clearly prefer eco-friendly products, and they're willing to pay more for them -- not just because they can offer savings over the long haul, but because they're environmentally responsible, and therefore morally superior to others in the marketplace. That could bode well for the future of hybrids, EVs, and other green vehicles.

Of course, NBC Universal's poll wasn't focused exclusively on cars, so we can't draw hard-and-fast conclusions about consumers and green rides. Shelling out a few more bucks for locally grown tomatoes or CFL lightbulbs is a far cry from forking over extra thousands for an EV that requires regular recharging and offers less range than a comparable vehicle with a combustion engine.

And we'd be remiss not to point out that this poll's data flies in the face of a recent study from GfK Research, which implied exactly the opposite: that consumers are primarily interested in saving money, not the planet. This is borne out in recent sales data, which showed compact vehicles at the top of the charts during the gas price spikes of 2008, but lower MPG models gaining ground once fuel prices slipped downward. It would appear that the things people say don't always match up with the things people do.

For more information about the NBC Universal "Green is Universal" poll, check out the press release below.

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New Green is Universal Poll Reveals Green Consumerism is on the Rise, With Two-Thirds of Consumers Willing to Pay More for Eco-Products from Brands They Trust

Overwhelming 90% of consumers say companies have a social responsibility to protect the environment