We just published our second Sustainable Consumer Research Report, based on four years of proprietary survey data from our reader base i.e. people who are actively trying to buy sustainably.

I won't dump the whole thing on you. But there are three findings I think every sustainable brand founder should know about.

Health and safety benefits have emerged as the fourth-highest motivation for sustainable purchasing, cited by 69% of respondents. Meanwhile, "the right thing to do" (which topped 82% in 2022) has dropped to 61%.

Consumers aren't abandoning sustainability but they are reframing it. It's becoming much more personal. NielsenIQ's 2025 research backs this up: 47% of consumers globally prefer brands that deliver health benefits alongside environmental ones.

What this means for you: If your brand messaging is purely environmental, you're missing a growing audience. Think about how your sustainable practices connect to personal health. Think: non-toxic materials, clean ingredients, health-safe production processes.

It's now nearly on par with cost as a barrier to buying sustainably. And it's consistent across all age groups so this isn't a generational thing.

The trust deficit is real. NielsenIQ reports that 77% of consumers would stop buying from a company found guilty of greenwashing. Deloitte found that 57% of consumers don't believe most sustainability claims brands make.

At the same time, "better transparency from brands" was the fastest-growing consumer demand in our data, jumping from 51% to 63% in just one year.

What this means for you: Vague claims are actively working against you. Consumers want specifics including things like third-party certifications, supply chain disclosures, concrete data. The bar for what counts as credible has moved significantly.

So consumers want more transparency, but brands are saying less. GlobeScan found that only 36% of consumers saw sustainability messaging from brands in 2025, down from 49% two years earlier.

Why? Fear. Fear of greenwashing accusations, tightening regulations like the EU's Green Claims Directive, and in some markets, political backlash.

But a Harvard-led survey of 75 global companies found that 85% maintained or expanded their sustainability programs (but only 16% said so publicly). What looks like retreat is actually widespread silence.

And when brands go quiet, consumers don't assume the best. They assume there's nothing worth saying.

This is the gap we built our Brand Rating to address. We’re giving brands a way to show their work through a credible third party, without relying on marketing language that risks being dismissed. (More on that in Section 7 of the report.)

→ Food & Drinks overtook Beauty and Clothing for the first time as a top sustainable purchase category

→ Beauty & Personal Care dropped 11 points year-over-year (possibly reflecting "clean beauty" scepticism?)

→ Supply chain transparency rebounded as a priority after two years of decline

→ Packaging remains the #1 consumer frustration, and big corporations are increasingly being called out by name

→ Consumers view sustainability as a shared responsibility: brands (75%), government (74%), and consumers (70%) all ranked within a few points of each other

It's free for brands subscribed to this newsletter. If anything in there sparks a question or resonates with what you're seeing in your own business, I'd love to hear about it! Just reply to this email.

Joy

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