2026
8
Germany Attitudes towards Everyday Sustainability: 2026
2026-05-12T02:00:51+00:00
REP54BE1123_CB4E_4F32_BE11_23CB4ECF322F
2195
193369
[{"name":"Sustainability","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/industries\/sustainability"},{"name":"Market Intelligence Report","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/report-type\/market-intelligence-reports"},{"name":"Germany","url":"https:\/\/store.mintel.com\/markets\/germany-market-research"}]
Report
en_GB
German consumers broadly perceive their lifestyles as environmentally friendly, yet engagement remains largely unchanged and constrained by affordability and convenience. While persistent cost-of-living pressures continue to dominate decision-making, many think…
Germany
Sustainability
simple

Germany Attitudes towards Everyday Sustainability: 2026

"Germans' sustainability efforts remain largely unchanged. Brands that embed sustainable solutions into existing systems will drive adoption."

Dr. Jennifer Hendricks, Principal Analyst - Consumer Lifestyles, Germany

Dr. Jennifer Hendricks, Principal Analyst - Consumer Lifestyles, Germany

German consumers broadly perceive their lifestyles as environmentally friendly, yet engagement remains largely unchanged and constrained by affordability and convenience. While persistent cost-of-living pressures continue to dominate decision-making, many think eco-friendly products are too expensive.

The primary challenge for brands lies in balancing sustainability ambition with economic reality. Consumers prioritise value, durability and long-term savings over purely ‘green’ credentials, while stricter regulation on packaging, claims and transparency accelerates the shift towards circularity.

The strongest opportunity is to embed sustainable solutions into existing systems. Brands that make sustainable choices easy, affordable and visible – for example, through circular models, clearer communication and integrated retail solutions – will drive adoption by turning sustainability into the default.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • How consumers perceive the environmental friendliness of their own lifestyles
  • Changes in environmentally friendly living compared to a year ago
  • Selected eco-friendly behaviours in the last 12 months and plans on doing them in the future
  • Factors influencing eco-friendly behaviours including cost and everyday trade-offs
  • Sources used for information on eco-friendliness
  • Attitudes towards sustainability and brand responsibility, including consumer perceptions regarding changes in affordability of an environmentally friendly lifestyle and if consumers think brands are more responsible for driving environmental change than individuals

Collapse All
  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • What you need to know
    • Outlook
  2. OPPORTUNITIES

    • Make sustainable choices the easiest and most affordable option
    • Make sustainability benefits immediately visible at the point of purchase
    • Focus innovation on durability and circular models
  3. MARKET DRIVERS

    • Cost-of-living pressures are mounting once again
    • Germany’s CO2 emissions barely decreased in 2025
    • Graph 1: greenhouse gas emissions, 2013-25
    • Climate change intensifies weather extremes and drives cost pressure on everyday consumption
    • Household waste levels record an increase
    • Household waste rises again, reversing recent declines
    • EU regulation tightens across packaging, claims and product lifecycles, accelerating circularity and transparency in consumption
  4. THE CONSUMER

    • Perception of own eco-friendly lifestyle and changes compared to a year ago
    • Perceptions of eco-friendly lifestyles vary by generation
    • Graph 2: consumer perception of own environmentally friendly lifestyle, by generation, 2026
    • Provide ongoing support to promote everyday sustainability
    • Eco-friendly living remains stable overall
    • Graph 3: changes in eco-friendly living compared to a year ago, % of respondents, 2026
    • Break beyond eco-engaged consumers by lowering barriers to sustainable choices
    • Eco-friendly behaviours
    • Germans are divided when it comes to the role of the individual in tackling climate change…
    • …and do not consider themselves solely responsible
    • Use positive, empowering messaging to resonate with younger Germans
    • Count on energy-saving as an effective entry point to engage consumers
    • Engage younger consumers with interactive tools that make higher-effort actions rewarding
    • Scale resale models to meet younger consumers’ needs
    • Graph 4: consumers who have bought an item second-hand or plan on doing so in the future, by generation, 2026
    • Factors influencing eco-friendly behaviours, including cost and everyday trade-offs
    • Perceived affordability remains the decisive factor for eco-friendly purchases…
    • …while climateflation is one of the biggest concerns relating to climate change
    • Show that sustainability and affordability are not mutually exclusive
    • Highlight durability of products and long-term savings
    • Graph 5: selected eco-friendly behaviours that consumers have done in the last 12 months or are planning to do in the future, 2026
    • Make sustainable options the default through pricing, placement and promotion
    • Younger generations follow a more balanced approach to sustainability
    • Graph 6: selected attitudes towards sustainability, by generation, 2026
    • Sources used for information on eco-friendliness
    • Make sustainability information visible and easy to understand
    • Simplify sustainable choices through clearer, optimised packaging
    • Adapt sustainability communication to how different groups seek and process information
    • Be aware of expectations regarding efforts towards sustainability…
    • …with consumers paying close attention to on-pack information
  5. INNOVATION AND MARKETING

    • Food and drink: brands scale circular solutions by embedding them into everyday systems
    • Reusable packaging gains traction, but scaling depends on convenience, standardisation and system support
    • REWE scales rooftop farming by embedding local production into retail infrastructure
    • Knuspr makes food waste reduction visible and shoppable through dedicated upcycled category
    • Household and personal care: brands make refill and reuse models convenient and visible
    • L’Oréal turns refills into a mainstream beauty habit through global multi-brand activation
    • Deposit systems expand into beauty as retailers make returns seamless and incentivise them
    • Brands move beyond recycled packaging to refill and compostable formats to advance circular beauty
    • Fashion: brands drive circular adoption by making repair, resale and transparency desirable
    • Brands reposition repair as a desirable skill, turning product longevity into a cultural trend
    • Vinted brings the ‘New Again’ feeling to second-hand fashion
    • Digital product passports enable shoppers to access sustainability data directly via QR codes
  6. APPENDIX

    • Products covered in this Report
    • The consumer
    • Consumer research questions
    • Consumer research methodology
    • Germany’s generation groups
    • Abbreviations
    • A note on language – Germany

Market Intelligence Made Easier With Mintel

The first Mintel Market Intelligence report was published over 50 years ago. Since then, we have provided our unique insights and understanding of consumers, innovation and global markets to thousands of customers worldwide. Here’s why our customers rely on Mintel:

  • Gain a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the market: Mintel reports blend consumer research, market forecasts, product innovation tracking, and competitive analysis, allowing businesses to see every angle of their industry and identify new opportunities quickly.
  • Make decisions with confidence, grounded in robust data: Each report draws on up-to-date, reliable information from trusted sources and industry experts, ensuring your strategies are based on solid evidence rather than speculation.
  • Benefit from expert analysis and practical recommendations: Mintel’s reports are written by experienced analysts who interpret complex data and provide clear, actionable insights you can trust to guide your next moves.
  • Stay ahead with actionable intelligence on market trends and consumer behaviour: By combining fresh research with long-term market monitoring, our reports help businesses anticipate changes and adapt strategically. So you’re prepared to make informed decisions and drive growth.

What goes into a Mintel Market Intelligence Report?

Curious about how a Market Intelligence report comes together? We like to think of it as building a detailed puzzle. We start with individual pieces: data from consumers, market statistics, industry trends, and online conversations. Then our expert analysts add world-class human insight and industry knowledge. The pieces are assembled to reveal a clear, comprehensive picture of a market.

The Four Pillars of Our Research

We use a combination of four main research methods when creating our reports, each adding a valuable perspective:

  • Consumer Research: Direct surveys with real people, giving us clear, current insights into what people think and do.
  • Desk Research: In-depth review of trusted data sources. We use this rich database, plus powerful internal tools that track new products and market sizes, to detect trends and guide forecasts.
  • Trade Research: Insights from conversations with industry experts. Their real-world experience helps us understand what’s happening behind the scenes.
  • Brand and Social Media Research: Analysis of online opinions and trends. This lets us spot trends, measure brand sentiment, and capture feedback in real time, adding further depth to our research.

Bringing It All Together

Each of these four pillars provides a different piece of the puzzle. Consumer research tells us what customers think, desk research provides the factual framework, trade research offers an insider’s view, and social media analysis reveals public sentiment.

Our expert analysts are skilled in weaving these diverse data streams together. They apply a range of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques to uncover the deeper story, connecting the dots to deliver clear, actionable insights. This comprehensive, multi-layered process is how we transform raw data into a market intelligence report you can trust to inform your most important business decisions.

£ 2,195 (Excl.Tax)
  • Download today with instant access
  • Multiple formats provided
  • Interactive databook included
  • Save up to 20% when you purchase multiple reports

Get in Touch

If you have a question about a Mintel Report, or you would like to learn more about our products, get in touch with a member of our team today.

Contact us

Trusted by global industry leaders

Epsilon logo

We utilize Mintel Reports, Trends and Comperemedia to mine for insights across the numerous business verticals that Epsilon serves, such as CPG, automotive, telecom, healthcare/pharma, retail and financial services.

By integrating Mintel insight into new business opportunities, we have been able to gain the competitive edge necessary to advance partnerships with global brands and key business players.

For our organization, it’s about depth and breadth. Having one without the other doesn’t enable success in our business.

Virginia Harvey, Secondary Research Manager, Epsilon
VocaLink logo

We use Mintel Reports, mostly for financial services and ecommerce markets, plus a few retail and technology ones.

As a leading payments provider, we value additional insights into consumer behaviour, opinions and trends that are shaping the many different markets we operate in. Mintel is a very good and very quick way for us to obtain those insights.

We use Mintel to get a view on where a particular market is going, which can support us in product development and help us identify opportunities or indeed risks, it is a very useful barometer of a market’s potential.

 

Andrew Neeson, Market Intelligence Manager, VocaLink
Abacus logo

There is no question that Mintel is the go-to resource for the best quality market research, but I did not think it was an affordable option for Abacus Marketing to consider. As a small marketing agency, we only work with a few new clients each year.

However, we have a very high-end consultative approach to our work, so we really do need a partner like Mintel to provide the big agency experience we are always aiming to deliver. Our clients come from an incredibly diverse range of industry sectors, so we obviously need access to market research reports from a very wide spectrum of marketplaces – and that is precisely what we got.

Stephen Taylor-Brown, Managing Director, Abacus
Amazon logo

Working in a customer-obsessed organization means that data and insights have to be at our fingertips. Mintel’s reports help us support anecdotes with real quantifiable insights. The summary sections (which I really like) helps save time by giving a birds eye view of the content before spending time combing through the pages.

Our business review discussions are strengthened by the relevancy of the reports to help us better understand our customers. In addition, the customer service received from the team (especially in crunch periods) makes the process of understanding customer behavior even better.

Ngozi Ngonadi-Nkwoji, Senior Marketing Manager, Amazon
Waitrose & Partners logo

We’ve found it so useful working more closely with Mintel. They helped support our recent flagship event for our top suppliers by providing a really unique viewpoint on the future of online retailing.

Nick Carroll from their Retail Team was also an excellent panelist, sharing useful and actionable consumer insights. We definitely look forward to working with Mintel again on future projects.

Zac Steele, E-Commerce Trading Development Manager, Waitrose & Partners

Get in Touch

If you have a question about a Mintel Report, or you would like to learn more about our products, get in touch with a member of our team today.

Contact us