It’s not just about reading food labels anymore
By WorkCabin.ca Staff
Since the 1980s in Canada, investors have promoted how consumers can use their dollars responsibly. It's called investing in Ethical Funds (ie. ensuring your money is invested only in socially responsible and Earth-friendly companies) and it still exists today. Ethical investing has played a pioneering role -- long before green was trendy -- in raising awareness about how we use our dollars to better our communities and our planet.
One such Canadian mutual fund investment, for example, is the Desjardins Environment Fund which consists primarily in shares of Canadian corporations that take a responsible approach to the environment. For quality control, an advisory committee of experts with expertise in environmental issues, assists portfolio advisors in assessing securities in relation to their environmental approach.
Investors interested in ethical investing want to know how their money is being handled. Likewise, in today's green era many consumers want to know more about companies and their products.
For years, consumers have read food labels at the grocery store. Now, green consumers are reading the 'environmental' labels of companies and products. On product labels, they're looking for terms like recyclable, renewable energy, phosphate free, organic, paper not derived from ancient forests, etc. On the corporate side, they're looking for examples of doing environmental good with dollars, such as supporting conservation projects.
In Canada, getting insight into products is greatly aided by the federal government's EcoLogo certification. EcoLogo certification (www.ecologo.org) sets standards in more than 120 categories. It's one way to be sure you're buying trustworthy environmentally certified products. There are thousands and thousands of such certified products and services in Canada.
The Green Consumer represents one of the largest economic revolutions of our time: It is forcing change. While its strength in consumerism may be larger in some corners of the globe, its power to influence change extends worldwide, especially in the global economy where a green-friendly product manufactured in the east is in demand by consumers in the west. The more that is bought, the more that must be made. Thus, the net effect is more enviro-friendly products usurping old unfriendly standbys, and job creation to meet the demand for new green products. Good is slowly pushing the bad off store shelves.
Unlike the political arena, it's always election time in the new green era. Green consumers are voting every time they make a purchase. It's a steadily growing campaign, perhaps still shy of a majority win. But the momentum is clearly in the green consumers' favour, if their money dictates change.
So what does it mean for companies? The savvy responsible ones are racing to capture the votes, er, we mean spending dollars, of green consumers. The reward for companies could be years of winning votes – yes, that would be consumer loyalty.
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Posted by on 10/31 at 04:14 PM