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April 16, 2008

65% Of U.S. Consumers Will Pay More For Renewably Sourced Products

Nearly seven out of 10 U.S. consumers are willing to pay more for products made with renewable resources, according to a survey sponsored by DuPont and Mohawk Industries.

The survey also revealed that global warming and helping American farmers were important drivers for consumers. Thirty-two percent of respondents said they would consider purchasing renewably sourced products that are more expensive to help deter global warming, while 33 percent of respondents said they would consider doing the same to help American farmers. According to the survey results, a majority of respondents (65 percent) are willing to pay at least $5 more on a $100 product – or an additional 5 percent – for products that are made with renewable resources. On average, U.S. consumers are willing to pay $8.30 more on a $100 product that uses renewable resources.

The survey also found that there are clear regional differences in how different parts of the U.S. view environmental responsibility. While 28 percent of the U.S. overall believes it is extremely important to be environmentally responsible, specific regions ranked particularly high. The Pacific and East South Central regions of the United States topped the list at 39 percent and 38 percent, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum were the Mountain (25 percent), Middle Atlantic (24 percent), and tied at 21 percent were West South Central and East North Central regions.

Other findings:

• Women tend to be more environmentally responsible than men – Eighty-six percent of women said environmental responsibility is important (answered “extremely important” or “somewhat important”) while 74 percent of men said the same.
• Income and age demographics have no significant impact on environmental responsibility – Surprisingly, the survey found that there was no significant disparity among various income groups in recognizing the importance of environmental responsibility. Across all income levels, the concern for environmental responsibility and degree of action to achieve environmental responsibility was similar. The same was also true for various age groups.
• Consumers take part in a wide variety of activities to help the environment, but some activities still are not popular even with the most environmentally committed – Respondents were asked what environmentally responsible actions they take in their households. Most U.S. consumers cited recycling (60 percent), using less water (56 percent) and using less energy (53 percent) as behaviors they do “all the time.” Behaviors that were the least popular were likely the hardest for consumers to carry out. They included doing business with environmentally responsible companies, using alternative energy and assessing their carbon footprint, all at 9 percent.

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