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Survey finds Aussie youth prioritise ethical considerations over costs in purchase decisions

Foundations of Tomorrow, in partnership with Aware Super, has released a report titled ‘Awareness to Action’ which examined young people’s attitudes towards sustainability and prospects for the future.

The report found that the majority of young Australians want more to be done around climate change, particularly by both government and companies.

The report surveyed 5,743 young Australians under the age of 30 and also examined 5,222 responses from social media. In the former data set, 65% were 24 years old or younger.

When it comes to selecting a product, 49% of respondents found that personal costs was the most important factor, with 39% selecting cost and 10% selecting convenience.

A  majority of 51% responded that ethical considerations were the most important to them, however, there were more factors listed. Those were: ethical treatment of animals (11%), labour standards (9%), carbon footprint (9%), where funds are invested (7%), water consumption (5%), sustainability reporting (5%) and organic status (5%).

The majority of respondents believed that government is most responsible for addressing climate change (52.5%), with large-scale enterprises being the second most cited entity responsible (14.8%).

In terms of which entities were most often examples of positive impact, companies were given as examples 17% of the time. No company was mentioned more than once in the answers given.

A 21-year-old female  respondent in Victoria stated: “I would have large companies take responsibility and take action on committing to zero carbon emissions rather than blaming individuals for not being ‘green’ enough.”

While a 25-year-old male in Queensland said: “Increase obligations for transparent reporting on supply chain sustainability for all businesses with strong financial penalties for failures to comply.”

Sustainability in advertising has seen the likes of Coles and Woolworths to make campaigns promoting their sustainability practices.

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