Countries are constantly being compared to one another in environmental measures--carbon emissions, energy intensity, environmental footprints. These international comparisons have generally focused on the activities of governments or businesses, making them a useful measure for policymakers but less helpful for average citizens. However, last week the National Geographic Society and polling firm GlobeScan released results from the first-ever international survey of the "greenness" of consumer behavior. (And if you want to test your own consumer greenness, you can take a shortened version of the survey here.)
The measure, called Greendex, was created from survey results of 14,000 people in 14 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the United States. It measured things like household energy use, transportation, and luxury expenditures.
As may be expected, consumers in developing countries individually exerted much less environmental pressure than those in developed nations. Consumers in Brazil and India were most eco-friendly; consumers in the U.S. ranked last (see figure 1). However, the surprising aspect of this divide was that it wasn't solely created by income disparity, but also shaped by stronger consumer preference for environmental products in developing countries.
Figure 1. Overall Greendex Rankings, 2008
Scores are out of 100 possible in this survey's methodology.
Source: EarthTrends, 2008, using data from Greendex, 2008
Behaviors Measured
As with other similar measures, the overall ranking of a country isn't as informative as its score in discrete categories. The four categories measured by the Greendex--housing, transportation, food consumption, and goods--each reveal a different pattern of a country's successes and failures.
Housing
- The housing measure took into account size of residences, heating and cooling, use of renewable energy, energy efficiency of appliances, and water use. Brazil ranked number one for sustainable housing by a wide margin--according to the study's authors, this was because of the country's small houses, low use of heating, and wide penetration of renewable energy.
- China ranked fourth, despite widespread use of coal for home heating; efficiency in other housing measures helped balance out the coal use. With large houses and high usage of home heating and air conditioning, U.S. consumers ranked last.
- The study authors point out that of the four Greendex categories, housing is the one most likely to improve in coming years, as many consumers say they're planning upgrades to make their homes more efficient.
Transportation
- Transportation rankings took into account means of transportation and distance traveled, as well as fuel efficiency and behavioral practices like carpooling. Here, China led the pack with widespread use of public transit and self-powered transportation.
- Canada was third to last and the U.S. again was at the bottom--but, the authors point out, this can't be blamed entirely on their large size. Their fellow large country, Russia, ranks fifth out of 14.
Food Consumption
- This measure accounted for proportion of food that was locally produced, and for consumption of fruits and vegetables relative to meat and seafood. By far India did the best in this category because of the low levels of meat and the high levels of produce eaten there.
- Some developed countries rank especially high in this category despite poor ratings in the other categories, including Great Britain, Canada, Germany, and Australia. Consumers there eat a high proportion of local food.
- Conversely, Mexico ranks uncharacteristically poorly in the food category, in part because consumers eat lots of beef and drink a large amount of bottled water.
Goods
- The goods measure accounted for both large purchases and everyday commodities. It included questions about purchase or avoidance of certain products for environmental reasons, preference for reusing, repairing, or buying used rather than buying new items, and number of household appliances.
- China, India, and Brazil top the list, with few expensive electronics; though consumers in these countries are less likely to recycle, they are also more likely to avoid environmentally unfriendly products in the first place.
- On the other end of the scale, Russia fares more poorly here than in other measures, with many consumers uninterested in green household products. Still, U.S. consumers rank last.
Findings: Some Conventional, Some Surprising
Overall the survey's outcome is fairly predictable: In countries with lower GDP, fewer people buy large houses; in warm regions, less energy is devoted to air conditioning; developed countries just consume more than developing ones.
But the most interesting revelation of the survey is that part of this eco-friendliness in developing countries is by choice, not by circumstance. Consumers in developing countries are more eco-minded in their purchases than their counterparts in developed countries--even though those consumers have more disposable income and more green goods to choose from.
The study authors say this is because consumers in developing countries feel more guilt about environmental problems, and are also seeing more of their effects. They are twice as likely to report that environmental problems are negatively affecting their health. And they report the strongest belief that global warming will impact them within their lifetime.
These convictions in developing countries went beyond consumer activities into political ones--India, Brazil, and Mexico consumers had some of the highest attendance at environmental or social demonstrations, and, after Australia, were the most likely to have voted based on environmental concerns.
This first year of the survey will serve as the baseline for future comparison--and, the authors note, though developing countries did well this year, their trend is certainly toward more consumption and more environmental impact. So this indicator will be a powerful one over coming years, as the global patterns of consumption change drastically.
Top photo by prolix6x via Flickr
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