The Customer-Centric vs Nature-Centric Tension 

In principle, consumers care about environmental sustainability. They want nature to be protected, and they often express strong pro‑environment attitudes. However, there is a wide gap between what consumers value in principle and what they do in practice. It’s not that consumers are disingenuous but it’s unfair to ask them to act sustainably if everything is playing against them. Accommodating the wants of the consumer with the needs of nature is our fundamental challenge in sustainable marketing. 

The central flaw in traditional marketing is clear: we try to understand what consumers need, want, and wish, and then adjust our products, prices, promotional tactics, and distribution channels to satisfy them. This customer‑centric logic drives competitive success, but it often breaks down when sustainability enters the equation.    

Our research shows most consumers emphasise price, functional quality, convenience, taste or visual appeal over eco-friendliness when making purchase decisions. Many don’t even think of environmental sustainability when making purchase decisions. 

On top of that, there’s often a trade-off for the company, and consequently, for consumers: making a product more environmentally friendly usually means compromising elsewhere. It is an uncomfortable truth, but often, adopting a purely customer-centric view results in a company doing more harm to the environment.  

Single‑use packaging is the classic example: consumers love the convenience and companies have given them what they wanted. But in doing so, we’ve placed a significant burden on the environment. Similarly, a sustainable product may not succeed beyond a niche market if following a nature-centric approach entails lower convenience, lower perceived quality, or higher price. So, can we offer a sustainable product that remains competitive on the other attributes, as well? The emerging field of sustainable marketing is all about acknowledging this trade-off and putting minds and money into turning the tension between what consumers want and what nature needs into a relationship that benefits both.

The role of governments 

Government intervention is essential to ensuring companies compete fairly. Without it, firms that invest in sustainability risk being undercut by competitors who don’t. 

Notpla, the seaweed‑based packaging company founded by former Imperial students, produces packaging that is not only more sustainable but also high quality, durable, flexible and convenient. But it isn’t the cheapest option in the market.  

It’s tough to compete against plastic. The prices are very low, in part because the scale is enormous, but also because the environmental costs of plastic manufacturing and disposal are not being incorporated into the balance sheets.

"It is an uncomfortable truth, but often, adopting a purely customer-centric view results in a company doing more harm to the environment."

When governments tax more harmful packaging, as is now the case in the UK, it’s an attempt to level the playing field and allow companies like Notpla to grow faster. This illustrates why policy is crucial not only for consumers and companies, but also for removing the multiple systemic obstacles that prevent sustainable behaviour. 

Despite recent political swings that have had a knock-on effect on sustainability policy, the shift in the past 18 months is in part down to the early hype and an oversimplified belief that consumer demand alone would drive change.  

As climate impacts become more tangible – heatwaves, water scarcity, supply chain disruptions – companies will increasingly integrate sustainability out of economic necessity. Policy priorities fluctuate, but the current policy shift away from sustainability that we’re seeing in some Western countries isn’t here to stay. The reality of the situation will eventually impose itself – it’s already happening. 

Giving consumers the right information 

Another key obstacle to sustainable consumption is access to information. Consumers are often unaware of which option is more sustainable, or how much more sustainable one option is relative to the other. Eco-labels are a good starting point.  

But, so far, eco-labels work on a voluntary basis, and, as a result, lack simplicity and standardisation. There are hundreds of types of eco-labels out there, which doesn’t necessarily make it easier for the consumer to choose the most sustainable product.   

The next major shift in this space will likely come from the digital product passports now being rolled out across the EU. These will provide detailed environmental and circularity data, increase transparency across the value chain, incentivise manufacturers to improve sustainability performance and enable easier auditing by governments, NGOs, and competitors.   

This could be transformational. A digital product passport would require consumers to scan the QR code to gather the information, and this, by itself, is a source of friction. But data availability and transparency are likely to encourage companies to offer products with lower environmental impact than the competition, and other actors, such as NGOs, to rank products on environmental friendliness. In short, the market will respond to the policy. 

Tips for leaders  

1. Adopt a dual mindset: customer‑centric and nature‑centric    

Focusing on a customer-centric approach is not enough. Leaders must explicitly integrate environmental impact into product design, pricing, distribution and communication. 

2. Build cross‑functional capability    

Marketing teams must work closely with sustainability experts to understand the true footprint of products. Marketing research is as important as environmental research. 

3. Diagnose the obstacles  

Map the obstacles that prevent your customers from purchasing, consuming, and disposing more sustainably.  

4. Identify and test tactical opportunities 

Develop marketing tactics able to minimise or circumvent the key obstacles, and in doing so, promote sustainable consumption.

Ultimately, sustainable consumption won’t happen simply because consumers say they want it. It will happen when businesses, governments and marketers make sustainable choices more attractive – without asking consumers to meaningfully compromise on the things they value. The challenge for marketers is to find ways to make what is good for consumers and what is good for nature work together, rather than treating them as competing priorities.