About 26 percent of consumers list the environment as a corporate responsibility issue they want businesses to address through new media, according to the 2009 Cone Consumer New Media Study (registration required).

That puts the environment narrowly ahead of health and wellness (24 percent) and ethics (20 percent).

When using new media to communicate corporate responsibility efforts, consumers think companies should focus on:

• what’s in products and how they’re made (85 percent)
• additional details about information, labels and claims first seen offline (83 percent)
• providing a forum for consumers to voice concerns over business practices (82 percent)
• reporting progress on social and environmental issues (82 percent)
• advocating for social or environmental issues (80 percent)