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As part of our Consumer Sentiment Tracker, we've been tracking Australians attitudes towards sustainability and the environment since May 2019. Our findings found that the majority of Australians (65%) are concerned about their personal carbon footprint.
We have found some interesting differences in attitudes between the states. The highest concern about their personal carbon footprint comes from people from the Northern Territory while Queenslanders and South Australians are most likely to be "not at all concerned".
Not concerned | Concerned | |
---|---|---|
SA | 37% | 63% |
QLD | 37% | 63% |
NSW | 35% | 65% |
VIC | 34% | 66% |
ACT | 33% | 67% |
TAS | 33% | 67% |
WA | 32% | 68% |
NT | 28% | 72% |
This is where we see some stark differences. Our survey shows that the younger you are, the more you care about environmental issues, which is maybe not surprising. But the actual numbers are staggering. According to the survey, 76% of those in generation Z are concerned compared to just 63% of those in generation X and only 55% of baby boomers.
Here is a breakdown of each generation's level of concern for their environmental impact.
Generation Z | Generation Y | Generation X | Baby boomers | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Not at all concerned | 24% | 29% | 37% | 45% |
Somewhat concerned | 57% | 54% | 49% | 42% |
Extremely concerned | 29% | 17% | 14% | 13% |
There's a bit of a gender gap when it comes to concern for the environment, with women much more worried. Less than a third of women (27%) said they were not concerned at all about the environment compared to 43% of men who weren't losing sleep over Mother Nature.
Not at all concerned | Somewhat concerned | Extremely concerned | |
---|---|---|---|
Women | 27% | 57% | 16% |
Men | 43% | 43% | 15% |
We also asked Australians whether their attitudes towards the environment translate into their day-to-day purchases. We found that the vast majority of Australians (74%) think this is an important consideration and nearly 4 in 10 Australians (38%) think it is "extremely important" or "very important".
How important are a company's social/environmental efforts when deciding what to purchase?
Similar to their concern about their carbon footprint, the older Aussies get, the less they care about the efforts by companies to reduce their impact on the environment.
Extremely important | Very important | Extremely & Very important - Combined Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Baby boomers | 7% | 17% | 24% |
Generation X | 10% | 23% | 33% |
Generation Y | 16% | 32% | 48% |
Generation Z | 20% | 33% | 54% |
Spending more time at home has made me want to do a different kind of spring clean: one that's good for the planet, wallet-friendly and works for anyone.
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