Meeting needs for ‘green’ products

Ute Griesbach – Cognis, Germany

Consumer environmentalism is here to stay, but people’s concerns and their effect on purchasing behaviour vary enormously. The environment first became an issue of public concern in Northern Europe in the 1970s, when the realisation dawned that the world’s oil reserves would not last forever. People also started to worry about pollution, as the media covered stories such as smog, hormones in meat, glycol in wine, and the effects of pesticides and fertilisers. This resulted in the start of the organic farming movement, and a return to less intensive methods of rearing livestock. For the first time, people started to take an interest in how their food was produced, although there was little change in the purchasing habits of the average consumer.