The vast majority of the Irish public, some 77 per cent of Irish consumers, expressed concern about climate change in the recent PwC Voice of the Consumer study, yet only half as many – 37 per cent – are willing to pay more for ethically conscious food.
The proportion of Irish people willing to pay a premium for food that supports the environment stood below the global average of 44 per cent. Similarly, more than half of consumers would choose to buy food products from non-domestic producers if they were cheaper than a comparable Irish product.
The current economic climate is cooling consumers’ abilities to take account of ethics when it comes to managing their own balance sheets.
“Good” purchasing decisions are something most consumers would like to make. The notion that Irish consumers are somehow less ethically forceful when it comes to deciding what to buy is somewhat misleading though.
While it is easy to point to the glaring gap between consumers’ ethical concerns and what they actually spend their money on, there are a few more statistics to consider.
Some 71 per cent of Irish consumers said that they are either “extremely” or “very” concerned about the cost of their food, and half of consumers are similarly concerned about their own financial situations.
With that in mind, the fact that nearly two in five consumers are willing to spend more money on more expensive domestic products is quite encouraging.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin seems to believe the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis is over, saying there are no plans to introduce further cost-of-living supports in Budget 2026.
Figures from this surveyshow a drop in the number of people “extremely” or “very” concerned about their financial situations from 58 per cent to 50 per cent. But surely if half of Irish consumers are highly concerned about their personal finances it is too soon to think the cost-of-living crisis is over?
Perhaps the real issue is that consumers are too busy putting their money towards paying rising bills to have any left for those ethical purchases.
