The pandemic has increased "Conscious Consumption" habits

"Conscious consumption" habits - being more acutely aware of the environmental and economic impacts of the goods and services you use - have risen sharply throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

72% of consumers have reported shifting their priorities to tackling food waste and two-thirds believe governments should introduce legislation that promotes this, such as charging for plastic bags or standards for labels, according to global data gathered by consultation firm Accenture.

The firm claims around half of the respondents did not truly know which brands operated using more sustainable methods and those that did not. 69% answered that it should be in the consumer company's best interest to relay this information in a bid towards transparency.

“The pandemic is making consumers think more about the impact their purchasing decisions are having on the environment and society at large,” said Oliver Wright, senior managing director and global lead of Accenture’s consumer goods industry group. "Consumers’ focus on areas like the provenance of ingredients and raw materials, working practices, the environmental impact of finished products and packaging, calls for companies to ensure the agility and capability to be relevant to consumers and customers," he added.

Half of consumers will also look to shop more health-consciously, the research claims, following a health kick craze that swept Britain during the early months of the pandemic.

Initial research found that roughly 45% of respondents also committed to making more sustainable choices in their shopping, however, updated statistics place this number closer to 66% as the new year rolled around. "This is a trend that was very much in place before the pandemic," according to Kim De Maeseneer, the European head of Accenture's consumer goods division in an interview with Industry Europe, adding there were metrics to suggests these habits are here to stay. "What has happened is that this has put the trend of consumer sustainability and conscious consumption on steroids. The effects - the silver lining - of the pandemic and its effects on this industry are completely unforeseen," she added.

De Maeseneer said that effects that were years in the making were compressed into a matter of weeks and months and her team expect the trend of conscious consumption to outlast the pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, news outlets have been posting anecdotal testimonies on public awareness of consumer consciousness, with many claiming it was a temporary fad.

NGO OnePlanet claims the pandemic has influenced trends that match some of the data gathered. Based on data gathered in July last year, as many as 19 million Britons were eating healthier as a result of the pandemic.

There are also concerns over company transparency regarding what companies put into their products and how they are sourced.

This also appears to have been something many companies, particularly within consumer goods have already begun making strides in improves sustainability across their supply chains.

"Sustainability" has become something of a hot topic over the past 18 months, with many industries, from tech to energy, shifting towards more economically viable models. This can be seen through greater pushes for equality or more modern taken on corporate human rights crises.

Both the semiconductor shortage and the green transition have highlighted how unsustainable some old business models can be.

However, there are concerns from critics who state many companies are doing the bare minimum for the sake of optics or spreading misinformation about their sustainability footprints, also known as "greenwashing."

De Maeseneer said: "There appears to be a trend, particularly in the consumer goods industry of pushing towards greater sustainability and the pandemic has shown that this cannot be ignored. "All that matters now is for companies, in the end, is for consumer needs and nothing more. We have seen that consumers have become very vocal with what they expect and this push for transparency has become a real mantra for the industry, and, also something of a PR move."

She added much of this innovation has been spurred by startups, owing to it being "much easier and less cost-intensive" to be conscious and sustainable in terms of their production processes, claiming the large companies "will have to follow."

She defined current sustainability goals as emissions cuts, the push towards the circular economy - recycling and packaging, water waste and management, and ingredient sourcing - and pushing towards trackand-tracing to increase user functionality. "Increasing sustainability throughout the whole supply chain ecosystem is important," she added. "Streamlining processes is important at every step, from the farmer to the consumer and we're seeing pushes towards these trends for the retail companies, the consumer goods companies, the logistics companies - we're really seeing a need to act across these four dimensions."

Interconnectivity is becoming a large part of ensuring supply chain resilience. The different companies involved with the value chain are beginning to cooperate more and this could stand to alter and affect every aspect of the supply chain, Accenture warns.

Companies are under pressure to deliver on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and mitigate future economic shocks.

This includes reducing operational environmental footprints, increasing water recycling and grey water utilisation and the shift towards net-zero goals.

The report suggests a key part in helping consumers to reduce waste and become more sustainable could be through education. "The more the consumer gets educated, the more outspoken the consumer becomes, and the more the pressure rises on every area of the value chain," De Maeseneer said.

De Maeseneer is particularly focused on the aspects of labelling standards in the consumer goods industry and sees this as an essential part of educating the public on topics of conscious consumption. "A decade ago it would be difficult to find relevant information on labels, such as ingredients or any potential intolerances because products were not clearly labelled," she added.

The legal frameworks around food packaging are a relatively new concept. While some form of labelling regulation has been in place in the EU since at least 1992, new laws came into effect in 2011. These also currently still affect the UK, with new legislation due to come into effect in late 2022.

Research suggests that people will be more on the lookout for ways to be informed about the ethical practices and standards of companies.

De Maeseneer said: "Even something simple, such as a vegan logo or a traffic light simple will make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions and there have been a number of initiatives in this regard... Standards need to be in place."

The chocolate industry has been embroiled in a number of ethical issues, particularly regarding human rights violations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Outside of sourcing, the traceability of the ingredients has always been a contentious topic and different schemes, such as Fair Trade, have propped up in the last few decades in order to increase the industry's sustainability footprint.

Cholocate industry lobby group Make Chocolate Fair launched a campaign to the Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of Europe (CAOBISCO) in 2015 to demand universal standards in the industry in a bid to reduce the number of concerns with the industry, from unsustainable farming methods to inhumane working conditions.

However, a 2019 study by Green America found many industry players faltered on many fronts for improving conditions and working towards sustainability targets.

De Maeseneer also referred to similar issues facing alcohol production, particularly regarding traceability and the fair treatment of farmers.

Issues such as ensuring ingredients like water and sugar are ethically sourced are areas in which companies may look to increase transparency, the research claims.

Many of these sectors are facing the same kind of scrutiny the plastics industry has been under for decades.

Technology remains a constant barrier for issues of true ethical transparency.

De Maesseneer concluded: "The requirements in terms of changing the manufacturing facilities are really intensive and so the trend you see now is pushing towards digital manufacturing - creating a digital twin of your manufacturing processes which all you to measure and correct and predict and ultimately change your process. "There has been a push towards investing in these kinds of technologies across many industrial sectors in order to deliver on the sustainability targets demanded by the wider world... It would be completely expected if there was a boom in this area due to the increased demand for these kinds of technologies and the cheaper and more widely available this technology becomes, the faster change will happen." n

Kim De Maeseneer, the European head of Accenture's consumer goods division. Credit: Accenture