Fifty percent of marketing and PR management believe that an organization’s green credentials are important to customers, according to research (via GreenBiz) commissioned by marketing communications company GreenPortfolio and based on 125 interviews with UK organizations.

Fifty-eight percent believe green marketing provides competitive advantage and 84 percent predict that green credentials importance to customers is likely to grow over the next two years.

Sixty percent of respondents said that environmental credentials are important to employees.

Still, three out of four companies have no green marketing plans in place and only one in three have senior management buy-in when it comes to going green.

Nearly half of respondents believe customers are prepared to pay more for environmentally friendly products and services.

PR is seen as the most credible channel of communication when it comes to green marketing with 23 percent of management surveyed investing ‘?strong or very strong effort’ into PR activities, compared to only 10 percent in advertising.