2025
9
UK Everyday Sustainability Consumer Report 2025
2025-09-15T14:02:01+00:00
REP5221CD10_9FB2_412B_8611_F896EA362A56
2195
186845
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Report
en_GB
While sustainability has been deprioritised by both consumers and brands, environmental concerns remain high. 72% of consumers believe sustainability will become an even greater priority…
UK
Sustainability
Consumer Insights
simple

UK Everyday Sustainability Consumer Report 2025

"Sustainability should be positioned as an added value benefit alongside key purchase drivers, such as affordability, convenience, and what current trends."

Rich Shepherd, Category Director - Financial Services and Social Research

Rich Shepherd, Category Director - Financial Services and Social Research

Market Intelligence ReportsSustainabilityConsumer InsightsUK

UK Sustainability Trends

  • While sustainability has been deprioritised by both consumers and brands, environmental concerns remain high, with nearly three-quarters of consumers believing sustainability will become a greater priority for brands over the next five years.
  • Consumers still expect brands to address sustainability, but it should be positioned as an added benefit rather than the primary focus of a product.
  • Affordability is the biggest barrier to sustainable action, making it essential for sustainable products to be either affordable or offer clear cost-saving benefits to achieve mainstream appeal.
  • A key opportunity for marketing sustainable products lies in linking sustainability with primary purchase drivers, such as personal health benefits, cost savings, or alignment with current trends.
  • Brands can emphasise cost savings by showcasing a product’s durability, effectiveness, or multipurpose functionality, making sustainability more appealing and practical for consumers.

This Report Looks at the Following Areas:

  • How environmentally friendly consumers perceive their lifestyles to be, and the barriers to more sustainable living.
  • The importance of affordability in sustainability and how brands can showcase diverse ways of cost-savings for consumers.
  • How easy consumers find it to act sustainably across different categories, and the learnings brands can take from FMCG categories.
  • Sustainability as a priority, and how brands can link sustainability to purchase drivers such as price, quality, convenience and trends.

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  1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    • Opportunities for everyday sustainability
    • Affordability is crucial, but brands can highlight this beyond price
    • Bring the impact of climate change closer to consumers’ lives
    • Highlight good for you, good for the planet messaging
    • Market drivers
    • Economic concerns come to the forefront…
    • …as sustainable behaviour falls to the wayside
    • Graph 1: “The cost of living crisis has made it more difficult for me to be sustainable”, by financial situation, 2025
    • What consumers want and why
    • Four in five Brits say their lifestyle is at least somewhat environmentally friendly
    • A sustainable lifestyle feels out of reach for many
    • Graph 2: barriers to leading a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, 2025
    • Making eco-friendly choices is easier in food, clothing and BPCH
    • Graph 3: perceived ease of acting sustainably across selected categories, 2025
    • The pressure is on governments to drive environmental progress
    • Graph 4: perception of who should be taking the lead in driving positive environmental change, 2025
    • Sustainability is still important, but is moving into the background
    • Graph 5: worries about the future, 2025

  2. MARKET DRIVERS

    • The climate crisis continues
    • Economic challenges take centre stage…
    • …and the rising cost of living has got in the way of sustainable behaviour
    • Graph 6: “The cost of living crisis has made it more difficult for me to be sustainable”, by financial situation, 2025
    • Consumers are feeling better about their finances in 2025
    • Graph 7: the financial wellbeing index, 2019-25
    • Regulators try to get ahead of greenwashing, but trust remains an issue

  3. WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY

    • Consumer perception of own environmentally friendly lifestyle
    • Most Brits perceive their lifestyles to be environmentally friendly
    • Graph 8: consumer perception of own environmentally friendly lifestyle, 2025
    • Financial situation is the biggest indicator of sustainable lifestyle
    • Barriers to sustainable living
    • Unlocking affordability is the key to wider adoption
    • Show diverse ways a product can be sustainable
    • Close the gap between action and perceived benefit
    • Brands tie their products to specific people and places
    • Ease of acting sustainably across categories
    • Consumers generally don’t think it’s hard to make sustainable choices
    • Graph 9: perceived ease of acting sustainably across selected categories, 2025
    • Transparency and making the sustainable option low-effort
    • Communicate alternative benefits
    • Young adults: in the know or just overconfident?
    • Graph 10: proportion of adults who find it easy to act sustainably in selected categories (NET), by age, 2025
    • Build on older adults’ well-established habits and values
    • Perceived responsibility for driving environmental change
    • Consumers put the most environmental responsibility on governments
    • Fading trust in retailers
    • Spotlight powerful voices to encourage younger consumers
    • Graph 11: perception of who should be taking the lead in driving positive environmental change, by age, 2025
    • Own the problem with genuine action to convince older consumers
    • Attitudes towards sustainability
    • Brits are sceptical about corporate environmental claims
    • A de-prioritisation of sustainability by brands and consumers…
    • …though climate remains a real concern for consumers
    • Graph 12: worries about the future, 2025
    • Closer ties to climate change drives action
    • Trends win over eco choices for young adults
    • Win over young consumers with trendy, sustainable products
    • Graph 13: attitudes towards convenience, trends and sustainability, 2025
    • Engage young consumers through eco-influencers
    • Graph 14: social media and sustainability behaviours, 2025

  4. APPENDIX

    • Report scope and definitions
    • Market definition
    • Abbreviations and terms
    • Consumer research methodology

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