What's Driving the Trend?
A recent survey found that 80% of consumers believe it is important to purchase products from “green” companies and most will pay the additional cost. A growing demand for healthy products is most evident in the food and agriculture sector. Consumers are also looking for products that have been ethically produced. Labels such as “fair trade” have been developed to respond to this demand.
What are the forces driving this interest in sustainable products?
Consumer awareness — Media reports about tainted medicine, pet food, toys, toothpaste and seafood have raised the awareness and concern of consumers about product safety issues and the problem of toxic chemicals in the global supply chain.
Demand for information — Citizens are demanding more accountability from corporations. In the 2009 proxy season, shareholders filed 16 resolutions seeking disclosure on a variety of chemicals including mercury, pesticides, and nano materials, as well as asking for overall sustainability reporting. In addition to individual consumer demand, some large retailers are beginning to require that their suppliers provide information about product ingredients.
Surge in state regulations and new federal requirements — State legislatures have taken action to restrict toxic chemicals in products, in the absence of federal leadership. For example, in the last three years, state governments have introduced 90 bills to restrict bisphenol A, an endocrine-disrupting chemical. The federal government has also begun to take action, by strengthening the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the agency charged with assuring product safety. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) addresses some of the shortcomings that have existed for years in the federal consumer products safety regulations. However, the law does not address the fact that thousands of chemicals in products have not been adequately tested for toxicity. The Kids Safe Chemicals Act, introduced in May 2008, would require chemical companies to provide basic data on industrial chemicals.
