Survey: Companies struggle framing decarbonisation for consumers

Hakuhodo Product’s Inc. released the results of a survey examining decarbonisation communication in Japan. The study was conducted over a week in March among 210 general consumers and 206 corporate marketing managers, and revealed a distinct mismatch between corporate sustainability messaging and consumer purchasing decisions.

While 57.6 percent of consumers consider decarbonisation essential for daily life, only 23.8 percent factor corporate environmental efforts into their selection of goods or services. In contrast, 43.7 percent of corporate marketing managers assumed that consumers heavily weigh decarbonisation during purchasing decisions. Hakuhodo Product’s sees it as a disconnect between corporate expectations and consumer purchasing behaviour.

Furthermore, the survey reveals that information clarity is a barrier. Only 15.0 percent of consumers find corporate decarbonisation information easy to comprehend, whilst 50.9 percent state that information is either unclear or entirely unencountered. There is also a channel disconnect. Corporate marketers primarily rely on official websites (63.1 percent) and sustainability reports (32.0 percent) to share updates. However, consumers largely gather information from news media, advertisements, and retail displays, with 48.1 percent reporting that they do not recall seeing decarbonisation information at all.

The survey also revealed discrepancies in the messaging. Marketers focus heavily on quantitative figures, such as carbon reduction stats (53.4 percent), along with slogans and visual elements. Consumers, however, seek personal benefits like safety and usability (33.8 percent), societal outcomes (33.1 percent), and easily digestible explanations using diagrams (59.6 percent).

Internal hurdles also persist for businesses, with 39.8 percent of marketers citing difficulty in measuring key performance indicators and 38.3 percent lacking visual expression expertise.

The findings suggests companies need to reframe sustainability communications around everyday consumer benefits and utilise accessible, multi-channel touchpoints.