With our series Eco HomeLife Explains we aim to shed light on terms and concepts around sustainability. And in this edition, we tackle the term of green consumerism.
When you delve into living a more sustainable life, you often come across terms, phrases and concepts that aren’t always easy to understand. So we have created Eco HomeLife Explains to help you understand them.
After all, knowledge is power and if we know what it means to be more sustainable, we can achieve it, right?
So in this edition, we look at green consumerism. But what is green consumerism? And is it the solution we have been waiting for to save our planet? Let’s find out…
First, What Is Green Consumerism?
In short, the term is used to describe the practice of buying green products. Green products are those that are more environmentally friendly.
People who opt for green consumption, will choose the products they buy according to their impact on the environment. The kind of things a green consumer will look for include:
- Products with lower carbon emissions
- Zero-waste options
- Plastic-free products
- Reusable items
- Organic foods or products from organic production
- Energy efficiency
So with green consumerism, the consumer purchase decision is based on individual or wider environmental issues, such as climate change in general, or more specific plastic pollution, microplastics, plastic waste, etc.
Let’s look at an example to illustrate this by comparing the actions of a “normal” (Sarah) vs a “green” (Linda) consumer. Both want to buy some new clothes, but their consumer attitudes are different, with Linda having green purchase intentions.
Sarah will look for colours, styles, trends, sizes and what suits her best. Linda will do the same, but she will also scrutinise the labels to check materials, country of origin, and might even research the brands on her phone to see if they adhere to ethic and environmental standards.
There might even be a difference in the shops they choose. Sarah will opt for her favourite fashion store that has a wide range of different styles that suit her tastes.
Linda, on the other hand, will shop brands that focus on sustainability, use sustainable materials, produce their garments in ethical and sustainable ways, and have a sustainable supply chain. She might even look at second-hand or charity shops.
And while they will both come away with trendy and fashionable clothes, Linda will know her choice is better for our environment.
Green consumers will look for eco-friendly alternatives to the products they want to buy, such as:
- Natural shampoo bars instead of liquid shampoos containing synthetic ingredients and packaged in plastic bottles
- Natural soap bars instead of synthetic shower gels in plastic packaging
- Natural cleaning products instead ones that use synthetic chemicals
- Hybrid/electric cars instead of petrol cars
- Clothes made from natural fibres/recycled synthetic fibres instead of new synthetic fibres
- Mineral makeup/natural makeup instead of “standard”/synthetic makeup
The list could go on, but I think you get the picture. So this green consumerism sounds alright, doesn’t it? Well, the aim of green consumerism is a way of “addressing environmental concerns without compromising the market driven economy” (Pettit and Paul, 1992).
And that’s where the problem lies…
Green Consumerism Isn’t The Answer
While it sounds good to buy eco-friendly products, there is a fundamental issue with green consumerism: green consumerism is still consumerism.
If we use another term, it will become clearer what I mean by that: green capitalism. While outwardly, the aim of green consumerism might be to fight climate change, the actual aim is to generate a profit, according to a very interesting article from the University of Manchester.
This article further explains that the basis of capitalism or consumerism is to get people to buy more and more to increase profits and grow businesses every year.
The thing is, there is no such thing as green consumerism, because consumerism cannot be eco-friendly. (Grant, 2011)
One of the reasons our consumerist society has a huge environmental impact is the overuse of resources to feed this overconsumption, as the UN’s Resources Outlook report indicates.
So simply replacing the vast amount of things we buy with eco-friendly alternatives won’t solve the issue, it just shifts it.
Think about it: the unsustainable materials, such as plastic, synthetic fibres, or synthetic ingredients need to be replaced by more sustainable ones if we just switch to green alternatives. This means the demand on these resources will increases.
For example, plastic has taken the world by storm is now probably the most used material. If we were to replace plastic with a greener material, such as bioplastic, which is made from plant-based sources rather than fossil fuels, we would need huge amounts of certain plants to replace the fossil fuels.
So the demand on raw materials will just shift rather than being reduced. (Arikan and Ozsoy, 2015)
And it’s the same story with most other green products. We might decrease demand on one recourse but increase the demand on another. But this isn’t the only problem with green consumerism…
Green Consumerism And Greenwashing
As people become more aware of climate change and how they contribute to it, they look for more sustainable products. This creates a market, which many businesses are eager to supply.
It’s estimated that the sustainable product market was worth $412 billion at the start of 2026 and is forecast to grow by 7.7% by 2035, according to market research company Business Research Insights.
Some businesses that supply this market are truly focussed on sustainability, but the vast majority just want’s a piece of the cake and cash in on conscious consumers. According to one study, 98% of green products on the market have some element of greenwashing. (MartÃnez et al., 2019)
This means most of them only pretend to some degree that they are eco-friendly. And this is a huge problem, because it gives people a false sense of buying a green product when in actual fact they support products that harm the environment.
Some advocates of green consumerism argue that it can force businesses to become more sustainable. But if the vast majority of green products aren’t green, this won’t hold true. Businesses can just say their products are green without making any changes.
Furthermore, greenwashing undermines the trust in sustainable products, which in turn can put people off. Because although green consumerism isn’t the answer, sustainable products have their place in living a more sustainable life.
The Green Premium
Another issue of green consumerism is that often green products are more expensive. (Pettit and Sheppard, 1992) I call this the green premium, because in many cases the bigger price tag isn’t necessarily justified.
Research has shown that people are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. (Grimmer and Bingham, 2012) Unfortunately, this means that many companies put this green premium on their sustainable products, because that means they can make larger profits.
Like greenwashing, this undermines the trust in green products. It also reduces accessibility, as many people don’t feel able to afford more environmentally-friendly products.
Green Consumerism Vs Sustainable Consumption
Now that we understand what green consumerism is and what are its limitations and issues, let’s look at solutions. As we have already said, buying green products is part of living a sustainable life, however, what is needed is a mindset shift from overconsumption (green or otherwise) to sustainable consumption. (Mont and Plepys, 2007)
It’s not just about what we buy, but how much of it. The truth is: we buy too many things that we don’t really need, driven by clever marketing that makes us believe that wee need all those products.
We have to become conscious consumers who are mindful and intentional when they buy. Let’s illustrate this with the example of clothes. We need garments to cover up and keep us warm.
But that’s not why most people buy clothes, they don’t buy clothes at all, they buy fashion. The functionality of garments is a secondary consideration, if that. If I already have 20 dresses, 10 pairs of jeans, 30 tops and t-shirts, 28 pairs of shoes, and 23 jumpers, I don’t need to buy any more clothes.
Yet, most people will continue to buy more and more. Why? Because they live in a consumerist society, where overconsumption is the norm. In the fashion industry this overconsumption even has a name: fast fashion.
As a conscious consumer, you’ll embrace slow fashion, which doesn’t focus on trends and fashion, but on functionality, creativity and a capsule wardrobe. You buy less, but higher quality and sustainable materials. You repair rather than replace.
The answer to climate change isn’t just buying eco-friendly products, it’s reducing consumption to a sustainable level. And for the things we still buy we look for truly stainable alternatives wherever possible.
It doesn’t mean we can never buy something we don’t need, but it means we don’t buy for the sake of having something new. It means being mindful of the impact we have on our environment.
That’s what it means to have a sustainability mindset. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being intentional and conscious.
