Green Products and Consumer behaviour in Japan

Akira Kataoka

IGPN Secretariat

March 2014

Where do consumers find green products and services

Retailers

Internet shopping sites

Online databases

Exhibitions

Example: Green Station

www.greenstation.net Online shopping

portal featuring products which meet both Eco Mark criteria and Green Purchasing Law criteria.

Supervised by Japan Environment Association and Eco Mark secretariat.

Eco Mark - Type I Environmental Label

Environmental labeling programme operated according to ISO14020 and 14024.

Considers whole life-cycle of products

Secretariat hosted by Japan Environment Association (JEA)

Currently 56 product & service categories (1,687 companies) covered (as of Aug 2013) coping paper, furniture, bio-

degradable plastic products, retail stores, car-sharing services, etc

http://www.ecomark.jp/english/

Example: Eco Products Net http://gpn.jp/econet/ Managed by GPN Japan Currently contains over 15,000

products in 17 product & service categories from over 700 manufacturers

Capable of simultaneously providing information on:

Environmental performance of products from different manufacturers

Certification by environmental labeling programmes

Compliance with the Green Purchasing Law

Pricing, major functions, etc. Information updated 4 times a year,

allowing users to obtain latest information

160,000 - 200,000 page view access per month

Example: Regular eco products exhibitions Eco Products: organised every year in Tokyo by the

Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) and Nikkei Inc.

http://eco-pro.com/eco2012/english/index.html N-Expo: organised every year in Tokyo by Nippo

Business Co Ltd

http://www.nippo.co.jp/eng/n-expo012/index.htm Prevention of Global Warming: organised every year in

Tokyo by Nippo Business Co Ltd

http://www.nippo.co.jp/stop-ondanka12/index.htm Tohoku Eco Products: organised every year in Miyagi by

the Tohoku Chamber of Environment

http://www.e-products.jp/2012/ Eco-Technology Exhibition: organised every year in

Fukuoka by the West Japan Industry and Trade Convention Association

http://www.eco-t.net/ Enviro Shiga: organised every year in Shiga by the Shiga

Environmental Business Exhibition Association

http://www.biwako-messe.com/overview/index.html

Surveys on Consumers’ Awareness & Behaviour for the Environment

Objectives: To understand awareness levels and behaviour of consumers for the

environment To compare the shift in awareness and behaviour after the Great East Japan

Earthquake in March 2011 Areas surveyed: Across Japan Method: Internet survey Samples: 53,580 contacted / Replies obtained: 20,846 (38.9%)

Period: May 2011 By Green Market+ Study Group

Sex Age

20’s 30’s 40’s 50’s 60’s TOTAL

Male1,683

(16.3%)2,191

(21.3%)2,125

(20.6%)1,987

(19.3%)2,308

(22.4%)10,294(100%)

Female1,657

(16.1%)2,141

(20.8%)2,122

(20.6%)1,993

(19.4%)2,367

(23.0%)10,280(100%)

Total3,340

(16.2%)4,332

(21.1%)4,247

(20.6%)3,980

(19.3%)4,675

(22.7%)20,574(100%)

Buy refills

Turn off lights / unplug often as possible

Use products for long time / Use until empty

Reduce or separate waste

Reduce use of air conditioners

Control room temperature

Bring my own shopping bags, chopsticks, cups

Reduce water use when having shower or washing

Use recycling systems

Try eco-drive when driving cars

Try to consume locally produced goods and foods

Don't drive car so often

Preferentially buy green products and services

Use renewable energies

I don't do any of these

74.6

66.2

65.5

65.4

58.6

52.2

51.4

49.8

43.3

35.9

34.3

23.9

11.7

6.8

4.1

What consumers do in their daily life for the environment?

%

Eco Mark

Eco Leaf

Green Mark

Eco Rail Mark

Integrated Energy Saving Label

Eco First

Low Emission Car Certificate

Carbon Offset

Carbon Footprint

Eco Action Point

11.9

0.6

7.4

1

8.4

0.6

16.2

0.9

0.9

0.6

44

4.2

31.9

5.2

34.4

3.7

49.8

7.4

5.4

3.5

36.1

14.4

42.9

16.1

26.2

14.2

23.2

14.3

10.2

11.1

2.9

80.8

17.8

77.7

31

81.4

107

77.3

83.5

84.8

Environmental Labeling – Levels of Awareness

I can explain what the logo meansI know fairly well what the logo meansI've seen the logo but am not sure what it meansI saw the logo for the first time

Sources of Information

Leaflets inserted in publications

TV and / or radio advertising

Advertising (using moving images) on internet or billboard sites

News-papers and /or magazines

TV and / or radio programs

Products comparisons on internet sites

Web sites of manufacturers or retailers

Listings on certain web sites

Information from friends or acquaintances

From sales assistants

Point-of-sales materials

Other

Don’t collect information / Don’t buy green products

Drinks / foods 43.3 31.9 7.9 15.2 18.8 8.9 9.3 10.4 18.9 7.7 30.1 4.6 19.1

Stationery 10.9 10.8 4.3 9.9 6.9 6.4 4.6 5.9 9.1 4.9 20.2 6.1 42.4

Clothing 28.4 12.9 7.6 13.7 7.6 8.0 7.2 7.7 9.4 15.2 19.1 6.4 27.5

Daily necessities (consumable)

35.7 21.7 4.2 8.5 9.4 5.8 4.3 5.9 9.5 4.0 23.4 4.3 28.6

Daily necessities (can be used for some time)

23.0 11.4 4.0 8.1 6.7 8.4 5.3 6.9 8.1 7.3 19.7 5.7 36.8

Home appliances / electric goods

27.2 26.4 10.8 17.6 14.4 37.2 20.8 24.0 12.8 34.8 28.0 3.4 13.1

Vehicles 13.6 26.2 9.4 17.3 11.7 19.8 23.2 14.1 11.4 31.3 15.5 5.1 23.4

Restaurants / Eating places

13.6 11.9 6.9 17.0 14.0 20.3 12.1 26.0 32.0 2.6 8.0 5.6 22.7

Hotels / Inns 9.8 9.6 9.2 18.2 13.2 32.6 17.2 32.5 21.8 2.5 7.1 5.7 19.6

What they pay most attention to

Unit Price

Manufacturers and / or retailers

Raw materials and / or the origins of products

Media exposure

Design

Effectiveness and /or functions

Safety Durability

Social contribution

Environmental performance (low CO2 emissions, etc.)

Certification by public institutions

Other

Don’t pay attention / Don’t buy green products

Drinks / foods 58.4 34.4 58.2 8.3 2.7 16.3 62.9 1.8 4.5 4.2 12.9 3.5 6.0

Stationery 42.1 10.3 5.4 2.5 34.1 34.5 15.6 22.5 2.5 3.6 5.7 2.5 16.2

Clothing 45.8 18.1 15.5 4.5 64.2 20.5 11.8 25.3 2.3 2.5 3.7 2.7 8.1

Daily necessities (consumable)

67.9 16.2 13.5 6.1 4.4 32.5 29.8 5.6 5.3 12.7 6.4 2.2 9.3

Daily necessities (can be used for some time)

41.8 13.2 11.3 3.0 36.4 29.2 29.8 42.6 3.1 5.8 6.7 2.3 10.8

Home appliances / electric goods

36.3 33.2 15.7 10.3 43.6 48.2 38.8 52.5 8.4 23.0 15.3 2.0 6.6

Vehicles 22.5 34.3 14.2 10.5 46.0 35.0 52.8 44.1 11.0 34.4 11.8 3.2 15.1

Restaurants / Eating places

36.5 21.0 13.6 9.5 4.7 7.2 41.9 1.2 5.5 3.0 7.6 12.1 15.3

Hotels / Inns 38.7 15.1 3.1 10.6 7.4 12.8 30.5 1.8 7.9 3.5 15.0 14.1 17.9

How willing are they to choose green products and services?

Drinks / Foods

Stationery

Clothing

Daily necessities (consumables)

Daily necessities (can be used for some time)

Home alliances / electric goods

Vehicles

Restaurants / Eating places

Hotels / Inns

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

6.2

2.2

2.6

5.2

3.4

9.5

10.4

2.8

2.8

13

6

6.2

15.2

9.5

21.9

20.5

6.6

6.5

24.8

18.2

19

29.9

23

28

22.9

16.1

15.2

38.6

47.2

47.4

32.6

43.1

27.6

30.2

50.5

50.9

5.7

8.4

8.9

5.9

7.3

4

4

7.6

7.3

3.7

6.2

0.5

3.6

4.6

2.8

2.6

5.1

5.2

7.9

11.8

10.5

7.6

9.1

6.3

9.3

11.3

12.2

Very willing (+3) Fairly Willing (+2) Willing (+1) Neither (0) Not willing (-1) Not so willing (-2) Not willing at all (-3)

How much did the Great East Japan Earthquake affect consumers’ environmental consideration and behaviour?

Huge difference (+6)7%

Difference (+5)17%

Difference (+4)28%

Difference (+3)26%

Dif-fer-

ence (+2)4%

Dif-fer-

ence (+1)4%

No change (0)14%

Overall Environmental Consideration

Huge difference (+6)7%

Difference (+5)17%

Difference (+4)31%

Difference (+3)24%

Dif-fer-

ence (+2)4%

Dif-fer-

ence (+1)4%

No change

(0)13%

Behaviour in everyday life

Some observations

‘Buying refills’ is most practiced, followed by ‘turn off switches/unplug off as often as possible’. In order to encourage more consumers to practice green

purchasing, environmental criteria / green purchasing guidelines need to be developed for more product categories?

Eco Mark is most recognised, followed by Low Emission Car Certificate, Green Mark, Integrated Energy Saving Label

Those labels with long histories and used across many product categories, such as Eco Mark, and those offering economic incentives, such as Integrated Energy Saving Label, have higher awareness.

Environmental performance of products & services are not so much taken into consideration when they make purchasing decisions. Green products & services are perhaps not fairly evaluated or

understood in the market?

Some more observations

Consumers take environment into consideration when purchasing durable and energy-saving products, such as cars, home appliances.

On the other hand, they don’t consider environment when purchasing consumable daily necessities. In this category, prices are what they pay most attention to. Information on environmental effects as well as economic

advantages need to be made more easily available for consumers? The Great East Japan Earthquake most affected North East and Kanto

(areas in and around Tokyo) regions. In Kanto region, behaviour to “save energy” is most observed after the

earthquake. Higher awareness of and more information on the environment

may have led more people to make this behaviour?