2026
8
Germany Attitudes towards Everyday Sustainability: 2026
2026-05-12T02:00:51+00:00
REP54BE1123_CB4E_4F32_BE11_23CB4ECF322F
2195
193369
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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
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Germany Attitudes towards Everyday Sustainability: 2026

German consumers broadly perceive their lifestyles as environmentally friendly, yet engagement remains largely unchanged and constrained by affordability and convenience.

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  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
Download Report Summary

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

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