Investors aren’t yet considering greenhouse gas emissions when deciding where to put their money, but some corporations, seeing that customers are, have increased their green efforts anyways. They aren’t all, however, promoting those efforts well, according to a study conducted by the Natural Marketing Institute. Wal-Mart topped the list, with 62 percent of respondents unaware of its green initiatives. Perhaps this explains why the corporation is now collaborating with the Carbon Disclosure Project to reduce the energy its suppliers use (after years of rejecting the CDP’s attempts at partnership.)
Some companies may not be promoting their efforts because the information is difficult to analyze and hard to trust. Starbucks, for example, obscures its social responsibility information in fine print on its website, making it challenging for the average consumer to know what exactly the company’s doing. If Starbucks isn’t living up to its claims, this may not be a bad idea.
Timberland’s taken a bold move to inform consumers, labeling certain products from their fall line with a measurement of gases emitted in production. Marketing experts believe the labels won’t actually produce sales because not enough people are looking for the information, and those who are don’t trust the formula for calculating carbon emissions.
It will obviously be a lot easier for companies who’ve developed socially responsible brands to get customers on board with their energy-saving efforts. For everyone else, it’ll most likely boil down to a lot of trial and error.
(Global Warming Image by Shmoomeema)
