Writing this in early 2010, the subject of climate change, its possible causes and society’s appropriate response, is being widely debated. On one side the failure of COP15 to produce a conclusive outcome, the furore over the leaked emails from the CRU at UEA and their implications of data withholding & falsification, and news stories attacking the veracity of statements within the fourth assessment report by the IPCC have lead to an apparent groundswell of uncertainty and scepticism. On the other hand a recent survey suggests that in the UK at least, the majority of the population would be in support of a feed in tariff scheme to fund the development of green localised power generation, and President Obama, despite mounting opposition within the Senate, has renewed his commitment to clean energy as part of his 2010 State Of the Union address.
Consequently, the need now for in-depth investigation into the low carbon economy & society’s relationship with it is more acute than ever before. Have the recent events altered consumers’ attitudes? What impact does this have for those marketing low carbon products and services, or communicating low carbon initiatives? How does this effect the strategic decisions and commercial approaches required for those operating within the low carbon economy? How receptive will society be to ‘green’ policies or legislation?
Business innovation is crucial for moving to a low carbon economy. Businesses need to know how their new innovations will connect with their target customers – yet people are notoriously poor at expressing what motivates them, and expressing what innovations should look like.
The Environmental Choices™ monitor is about providing customer insights which are useful in supporting such business innovation. It does this by adopting a ‘whole world’ view of people’s lives and the decisions they make: the situations people are in, the cars they drive, the houses they live in, the flights they take, the technology they use, their brand attachments, their attitudes, associations, and aspirations, their passions, concerns and unmet emotional needs – all aspects of their lives which might impact on their readiness to embrace specific innovations. Our analysis is guided by experience, judgement and a range of statistical analytical techniques to make this information accessible, understandable and relevant to our clients.
