ESG Today reports that Bain surveyed over 23.000 consumers worldwide about a set of sustainability issues, including purchasing behaviors, while speaking directly to hundreds of people regarding sustainability-related products.

The results showed that more consumers than ever are interested in making sustainable purchases, with two-thirds of respondents (64%) being "very or extremely" concerned over environmental sustainability. At the same time, 60% said that climate-oriented concerns grew over the past two years.

Overall, a majority of customers expressed interest in sustainable products, but those in fast growing markets, such as India (85%), China (73%) and Brazil (81%), showed even more concern than those in developed countries. Thus, the share of people in Germany, the US and the UK who showed interest in sustainable products were 54, 53 and 56 percent respectively.

The survey also found that 50% of consumers say that sustainability is among their first four purchase criteria and they also claimed that would pay 12% extra on a product if it is environmentally friendly.

Still, the report also discovered that the average price companies ask for sustainable products, 28%, is far above what most customers would be willing to pay in order to protect the planet.

There is also a discrepancy on how both companies and consumers define and view sustainability and if a product is sustainable or not. Thus, companies focus on how products are made when talking about sustainability, while consumers focus on reusability, durability and waste minimization.

The entire report can be consulted at the following link.